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Beyoncé’s twins are here — and their names are Sir Carter and Rumi

The singer announced the names, rumored for weeks, in a post on Instagram.

Emily St. James
Emily St. James was a senior correspondent for Vox, covering American identities. Before she joined Vox in 2014, she was the first TV editor of the A.V. Club.

Beyoncé has revealed both the birthday and the names of her 1-month-old twins via a post on Instagram. The twins, named Sir Carter and Rumi, are “one month old” according to the singer’s post. Assuming they were born in California, that would put their birth date at June 13, 2017.

Beyoncé posted a photo of herself with the twins shortly after 10 pm Pacific time.

The post deliberately echoed February’s pregnancy announcement.

The initial pregnancy announcement referenced Renaissance paintings of the Madonna when pregnant. Similarly, the introduction of Sir Carter and Rumi calls back to paintings of the Madonna with her son, the Christ child. (Here’s a pretty good example of one that seems as if it may have provided a model for Beyoncé’s post.)

Beyoncé and her husband, Shawn Carter (better known as rapper Jay-Z), welcomed their first child, daughter Blue Ivy Carter, in 2012. Beyoncé most recent album, Lemonade, was released in 2016 and went on to become one of the year’s top-selling albums. Jay-Z’s latest release, 4:44, came out just weeks ago.

The names of Sir Carter and Rumi have been rumored for weeks now, after documents to trademark both names were filed with the government in late June.

For more on Beyoncé’s pregnancy, read Vox’s Constance Grady on the changing demands of celebrity pregnancies, and the ways Jay-Z and Beyoncé use music to control the narrative around their marriage.

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