Why Ariana Grande Goes by Full Name in ‘Wicked’ Credits but Not Her Other Movie Roles

Ariana Grande has a sentimental reason for going by her full name for the Wicked movies.

The pop star, 32, is credited as Ariana Grande-Butera in both last year’s Wicked: Part One — which earned her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination — and its brand-new sequel, Wicked: For Good.

“Technically, it’s my little-girl name. It’s technically little Ari’s name,” Grande said in a 2024 interview with Hit Network when asked about the symbolism of the moniker choice.

“I just feel like this experience was such a homecoming for me. I feel like I came home to myself in a lot of ways through what I learned from Glinda, from Elphaba. That was my name when I went to see the show when I was 10 years old, and it felt like a really lovely way of honoring that. It felt really full-circle, and it just felt like something I wanted to do.”

Grande is the actress’ mom Joan’s last name, while Butera is her dad Ed’s. Her parents divorced when she was a child.

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It seems, however, Grande won’t make the name change permanent for all of her future screen roles.

When Universal shared a press release announcing the title and the November 2026 release date of Ben Stiller’s Focker-In-Law sequel, she is credited as Ariana Grande alongside her cast mates Robert De Niro, Owen Willson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo and Beanie Feldstein.

Additionally, when it was officially revealed in October that she’d be among the lineup appearing in next year’s installment of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story series, her name appeared as Ariana Grande.

It was revealed in July that she and Josh Gad would lend their voices to Wicked director Jon M. Chu’s animated Dr. Seuss movie Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, out in 2028, and the singer’s script was pictured with “Ariana Grande” on it.

While on the Today show Tuesday, Nov. 18, Grande expressed that acting will be her main focus moving forward. (She has her Eternal Sunshine concert tour scheduled for 2026.)

“I really am enjoying acting right now. Whether it’s movies or being on stage or a little something here and there, I think that’s currently what I’m most inspired by,” she said. “I’ll still sing, I promise. But yes, right now, that’s currently where I’m at.”

Wicked: For Good is in theaters now.