Check in on the Rihanna fans in your life today, y’all, because they just learned some new information to obsess over. While the musical icon is currently pregnant with her second child with rapper A$AP Rocky, the name of her firstborn has been kept a secret for almost an entire year. That is, until now.
On May 10, The Daily Mail published an article confirming the name of A$AP Rocky and Rihanna’s son: Rza. According to the post, the publication received an exclusive copy of the birth certificate, revealing the baby’s name to be RZA Athelston Mayers. For A$AP fans, the middle name may look pretty familiar: Athelston is also A$AP’s (or, real name Rakim’s) middle name. But Rza? Where does that come from? What does it mean? And, most importantly, how do we pronounce it?
As an avid rap fan, I admittedly let out a heartfelt “aww” when I learned of Rih’s baby’s name. ICYMI, Rza is thought to be a tribute to one of the greats in rap history: Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known as RZA, who was the frontman of the legendary group, The Wu-Tang Clan. The name is pronounced like “Rizza,” similar to another musical icon, SZA.
While the baby (name) bomb came as a surprise to fans, a few eagle-eyed stans took the time to look back on possible Easter eggs alluding to Rza’s name. What they found? Well, RiRi has been dropping hints about Rza’s name since his birth in the most Rihanna way possible: through her looks, of course!
In August 2022, Rihanna stepped out wearing a RZA t-shirt just three months after giving birth. And, more recently, RiRi wore a Wu-Tang shirt during a night out with both her son and A$AP on April 5. Looking back, this seriously wasn’t subtle.
With baby number two on the way, Rihanna and A$AP have been pretty private about their current pregnancy. (Which is understandable: These are real people, y’all!) However, some fans speculate that A$AP and RiRi’s next child will be a girl, after a sighting of the star shopping for baby girl clothes in April. However, both artists have been close-lipped when it comes to discussing the sex, or potential names, of this baby. And I love that for them — give the two some space!
After all of this, I know one thing for sure: I’ll be looking at Rihanna’s t-shirts a little closer from now on to see what other hints she’s dropping… a new album, maybe?