Back in March of this year, there was a crazy amount of commentary over the Duchess of Sussex using “Sussex” as her married surname. In an episode of With Love, Meghan, she told Mindy Kaling “I’m Sussex now” after Mindy referred to her as “Meghan Markle.” Meghan also explained in an interview this year that she, Harry and the kids use Sussex as their shared family surname. The British media and the Windsors continue to freak out about this every few months. Interestingly, back in June, we learned even more backstory on the Sussex surname – in the months after QEII’s death, Harry and Meghan had no idea if King Charles planned to alter the letters patent and/or remove their titles, so Harry sought advice from his uncle, the Earl of Spencer, about possibly changing their Sussex surname to Spencer, especially since the British authorities were slow-walking Archie and Lili’s passports. In any case, we’re now getting fresh discourse about this exhausting subject.
Meghan Markle is setting the record straight on her last name. The Duchess of Sussex, 44, confirmed to The Circuit with Emily Chang in an interview that aired Tuesday, August 26, that she legally changed her name upon marrying Prince Harry in 2018. She is now officially Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, the family name she shares with her children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.
While Meghan’s maiden name is Markle, much has been made of what her last name is since joining the royal family. The topic became a talking point on the first season of With Love when Meghan corrected Mindy Kaling when she called her “Meghan Markle” and said, “You know I’m Sussex now.”
During the Bloomberg Originals interview, which dropped the same day that season 2 of her lifestyle series With Love, Meghan premiered on Netflix, Chang pressed, “Give me a tutorial on royal naming conventions. So like, are you Meghan Sussex? Are you Meghan, Duchess of Sussex? Is Markle even on your passport anymore? Is it, we don’t use that term anymore?”
“Well, when I got married, I changed my name. But it’s a complicated one for people to understand, because a last name is not typical in that construct,” Meghan replied, referencing her Duchess of Sussex title.
Chang asked, “I think we expect a last name. But is that a last name or is that—?”
“It’s not, but it’s, it’s used roughly, or loosely, rather. It sounds so silly to say. And I get it, because I’m American and then I went there and I started to understand. But then you come back and as an American, you go, ‘I’m so confused,’ ” Meghan joked. “It’s a dukedom.”
“A dukedom,” Chang repeated. “That’s a new word for me.”
“It’s a dukedom. So, that’s the truth of it. But at the end of the day, you know, yes. My legal name is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, but Sussex for us works as our family name and it’s the name that we share with our children,” Meghan said. “But yes, since we’ve been married, that’s what I’ve been called,” she added about her name now.
When asked what she has learned about herself “since becoming Sussex,” she responded, “Well, interesting. What I learned about myself is no matter what my name is or what people call me, I’m still the same person. So that didn’t really, that didn’t change who I am. And maybe that’s probably the biggest distinguishing factor.”
As I said back in March, I continue to find this nitpicking over Meghan’s married surname to be so dehumanizing for her and the kids. Meghan simply “using her married name or wanting to share a surname with her husband and children” is constantly twisted into “Meghan can’t stop bringing up the Windsors” or “she WANTS to have that title so she can monetize it.” What she wants is her married name. End of story. The Windsors are the ones using the titles to lay claim to Meghan, her kids and their lives.
What’s Meghan Sussex’s Real Name? The Truth About Royal Naming
Meghan clarified in her interview with Emily Chang that her legal name is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, but she uses Meghan Sussex as her family name, shared with Prince Harry and their children. pic.twitter.com/T42aAytyR2
— Feminegra (@feminegra) August 26, 2025
Screengrabs courtesy of The Circuit, additional photos courtesy of Meghan’s IG.
Yes it is confusing but at the end of the day that is now her married name and her children’s name. Salt isle should (but they won’t) get over it and they will still refer to her as Megan Markle because they are disrespectful racist shits!! They demand respect from her but none is given to Meg.
The only reason that it’s a big deal is because they don’t want her to have any claim to that dukedom as she put it in her interview. That’s why they’re always talking about removing titles and insisting on calling her Markle. Any other married woman who said yes I want to take my husband’s last name it wouldn’t even be a question, that’s her last name now.
To act like she’s doing something odd, because she wants to share a name with her family is silly. There’s nothing that she can do about the fact that her husband is a Duke. Their last name is their last name and has nothing to do with wanting to be connected to.that family.
It has been protocol for a very long time that the duchess or countess etc can use the title as a surname.
None of what Meghan is saying is new and in fact the same British people bitching also would use Wales when referring to Harry and William
If they lose the dukedom then she still won’t be Meghan Markle, she will be Meghan Mountbatten-Windsor or Princess Henry, or thanks to the Nigerian Kings, Princess Meghan.
Does this clarification mean Meghan will lose or has already lost her right to vote? Cause her married name will no longer match her birth certificate?
Are you talking about SAVE act? Because that bill has not yet become law.
Each state can control who can vote and so she’s in California and should be fine.
I cant see an act being passed that deprives a married woman of the vote if they choose to take their husband’s and their children’s name. They might have to produce a marriage certificate if they do not have a passport.
I found the interviewer a bit repetitive on this point. “Like on Markle we don’t even mention that?”
So Meghan is accomplished, she deftly avoids the landmines laid for her. The interviewer liked to repeat a lot of tabloid talking points and I’m glad Meghan is philosophical on the SEO and monetising of her. They make their choices. She makes her choices but they rarely respect her choices.
The reason for the nitpicking and freak outs is that if Meghan’s legal surname is Sussex, Charles or William can’t take that away from her.
They can attempt to strip her title but they have e no power to change the last name on her American passport.
Yep. Even if they did manage to claw back the title in the UK, she can call herself whatever she wants til the cows come home. They all can. The Queen gave it to them, even if William were to ‘take it back’, he can never go back in time and take that moment away.
I don’t know the American system but surely she can officially change her name to Sussex if she wants to. She certainly can under British law.
It’s bewildering that a married woman uses a new last name. Has that ever happened before?
They never made waves when Harry and William used the surname Wales before their marriages.
They never made a fuss about referring to Andrew’s family as the Yorks. Ditto the Kents and the Gloucesters.
Even Edward and Wallis had the shared surname of Windsor.
The naming convention is old, but the press acts like they’re brand new simply because Harry married a biracial American.
Any reporter who brings it up is just using their own racism for clickbait.
These exact same people have fits when kate Middleton is used in the media.
Still wish they would have switched to Spencer. They are the ones who love&support Harry.
It’s possible they would have if their dukedom titles had been revoked? But at the time when they were asking they truly did not know if that’s what Charles would do. When he didn’t revoke the titles it seems like they said okay cool we’re sussex.
It would take an act of parliament to revoke their titles. Which could open up the idea of titles being revoked alltogether. Not happening.
They could have their style of HRH revoked, but they don’t use that style anyway. (Will di Amin will probably revoke it when he’s King out of spite).
It would take an act of parliament to revoke the dukedom titles but I think the Sussexes were generally like well anything can happen at this point and were waiting on their passports. They were just thinking about all potential possibilities, even an unlikely act of parliament. They had already offered to give them up in a letter so perhaps wondered if Charles could convince parliament to take them up on it. Which parliament could of course have refused considering how it would get into murky territory for the titled aristos. I think the styling could be removed by a King’s LP and it if they didn’t want it to affect later generations it would have to be written specifically to target the Sussexes. But then you’re getting into only working royals can have titles which defeats the whole definition of a monarchy being passed down by special blood. William could still do it if he wanted though despite being an obvious act of grievance jealousy and racism.
It’s a little confusing because we don’t have titles in the US but its not end of the world confusing.
At this point I think people are just being willfully obtuse about it in large part because they want to keep her separate from anything royal.
(that’s not entirely it because we all still call Kate Middleton KM all that time…..see derangers go crazy on a People mag article when they call her that lol but I think that’s a large part of it.)
This is actually pretty common amongst titles aristos. The family name will not always match the title. So the ones with titles will use their title as a last name. For example, The Duke of Marlborough goes by Jamie Marlborough even though his family’s surname is Spencer-Churchill.
Or G, C and L using the surname Cambridge at school when their parents were using the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Complicated and annoying? Sure. But again, it’s not unheard of.
Another means to try and “other” Meghan by creating controversy re her last name. So happy she is very intelligent and shows this with clarity while expressing herself and clarifying all of this nonsense.
On the part of American media I believe its confusion. It took me a long time to wrap my head around the idea that Harry’s first name is Prince Harry like Mary-Ann and his last name was Duke of Sussex after he married. I remember thinking how confusing it must be to have to change your name on all your legal documents every time a member in your family died/got married.
For British media its intentional. The Wessex in Sophie Wessex is from Edward’s title you never hear her maiden name because the press like her. We always heard Camilla (before she became Queen), Kate and Meghan’s maiden names because certain factions of the press don’t like them and its intentional disparagement and disrespect.
Technically he’s Henry as in Henry Charles Albert David.
Though I would think this would raise security issues about knowing the exact name on someone’s passport.
I think it’s also an SEO thing–in addition to the clear disrespect. The Fail and others need clicks, and “Kate Middleton” or “Meghan Markle” will get those in a way using their titles can’t. But yeah, I’m never calling Kate “POW” until the derangers start respecting Meghan by calling her Meghan Sussex.
Abolish the monarchy I say. But if they want to play this game then Sussex is only their “last name” if they are titled prince/princess, I don’t keep up so I don’t know, are they? If not, since 1960, the family name is Mountbatten-Windsor. End of.
If they legally changed their name to Sussex in the USA after being stripped of the title prince/princess that’s insane, hilarious, but insane. I’m here for the crazy, but let’s not pretend otherwise.
Decca, you are misinformed. They do not need to be Prince or Princess in order to use their titles as their surname. The British aristocracy do this all the time. See Where’sMyTiara’s comment above:
“The naming convention is old, but the press acts like they’re brand new simply because Harry married a biracial American.”
And Pumpkin’s comment above:
“This is actually pretty common amongst titles aristos. The family name will not always match the title. So the ones with titles will use their title as a last name. For example, The Duke of Marlborough goes by Jamie Marlborough even though his family’s surname is Spencer-Churchill.”
And for what it’s worth, Harry and Meghan are Prince and Princess of the United Kingdom – the latter is literally on Prince Archie’s birth certificate. They stripped her given names off her child’s certificate, but they did not strip the title or that description.
Well, rest easy, because Harry is still a Prince, meghan is princess henry (and a princess in her own right) and Archie and Lili are both prince/ss.
End of.
And as commenters have said, Sophie goes by Sophie Wessex so Meghan can go by Meghan Sussex. And the prince/princess title is about the hrh styling not the sussex dukedom title. Those are separate things that would need separate avenues to strip, one needs parliament and the other a King’s written LP that specifically targets Harry and Meghan’s family and doesn’t set a precedent for later generations like Louis and Charlotte’s future kids. So what you’re saying doesn’t make sense.
So now that People Mag has written this article, will they finally start using Meghan Sussex, or will they continue to listen to their handlers at KP and continue writing Markle in big letters in their headlines and articles about her?
There’s actually no confusion. The British press muddies the waters because they don’t want Meghan and her children to have a title.
I mean, honestly, I would rather be Meghan Spencer if I were her to rid myself entirely of the BRF. But who knows- maybe that would have been an even bigger to-do then it would be worth.
I remember when Zoe Saldaña husband added her last name to his own. Everyone congratulated him. Meanwhile Meghan is sticking to tradition and people are acting as if she summoned the 7 plagues to finish the planet.
Bottom line: This wouldn’t be an issue if Meghan was white.
She chose to change her name when she got married, and people ought to respect her choice.
Side note: Meghan is so lovely and down-to-earth in interviews. I could listen to her talk all day.
They only make an issue out of it because they don’t want her to have access to that title. Anyone who marries into a family with titles, naturally their legal names are whatever that title is & their kids will just use that as a surname to make it easy. Harry was using Wales when Chuck was Prince of Wales, it’s not even that serious. Willy & Kate’s kids were Cambridge until they got the Wales titles.
I think Meghan added to the controversy by saying her last name is ‘confusing’. A dukedom is a title, hence, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. If she, Harry and the kids have the same surname, then she’s Meghan Sussex. Also, referring to her as Duchess Meghan is incorrect. Fergie was never Duchess Sarah and when Kate travels to Scotland she doesn’t become Duchess Catherine.
She was saying its confusing for an American audience, I think. The media misreport titles all the time as well. She gets to own her title, her now name, when no one else gives her that respect. Meanwhile everyone’s all ‘princess Kate’ which is also incorrect.
Those clarifications are annoying because these journalists have the ability to know. But because of the call to strip them of their titles this question will always make me side eye anyone asking