Ariana Grande returns to her official birth name in the credits of Wicked

Ariana Grande’s official birth name will appear in the credits of her latest film Wicked, a decision she has described as “a homecoming”.

The actor and singer, 31, will have her full birth name – Ariana Grande-Butera – reinstated in the credits of the upcoming musical fantasy film, E! News reports. She stars in the project as Galinda Upland, or Glinda the Good Witch of the North, and opposite Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp, who later becomes the Wicked Witch of the West.

Grande addressed the reports during an interview to promote the film, referring to her double-barrelled surname as her “little girl name”.

“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,” she told the reporter, with Erivo smiling next to her.

“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 honouring that. It felt really full-circle.”

“Grande-Butera” combines both her parents’ surnames, with “Grande” coming from her mother, Joan, and “Butera” belonging to her father, Ed – whom the singer had long been estranged from.

It’s understood she and Butera, a graphic designer, lost touch in 2013, although the reasons for the rift are unclear. It has been reported he and Joan separated when Grande was about 8 years old, leading her to use her mother’s surname professionally.

However, in recent times it appears Grande and her father have largely repaired their relationship and have since reconciled. She was photographed hugging her parents on the red carpet at the 2020 Grammy Awards, and over the years has shared snaps of her and Butera on social media.

In 2014, Grande told Seventeen falling out with her father had been “one of the hardest things” she’d endured.

“It took me so long to be okay with it,” she said at the time. “So much of me comes from my father, and for so long, I didn’t like that about myself.

“I had to accept that it’s okay not to get along with somebody and still love them.”

In 2017, she shared an old photo of her father on social media with the caption, “I love you”. The following year, she posted a picture of herself FaceTiming her father during Christmas, and another snap of the two at one of her concerts with the caption, “Foreva.”

Her 2018 hit Thank U, Next also referred to their rift: “One day I’ll walk down the aisle/Holding hands with my mama/I’ll be thanking my dad/‘Cause she grew from the drama.”

Meanwhile, Butera often shares photos of himself and his daughter to Instagram, where he has 180,000 followers. To commemorate Grande’s 29th birthday in 2022, he posted a photo from her wedding to now-ex-husband Dalton Gomez with the caption, “Happy Birthday Ariana, So so proud of you for everything you do. Love Daddy [sic].”

Wicked, which is set to hit New Zealand cinemas on November 20, serves as a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, exploring the unlikely friendship between the characters Elphaba (Erivo) and Glinda (Grande).

The cast also includes Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James and Peter Dinklage.

The film, directed by Jon M. Chu, is the first instalment of the project, with a sequel – Wicked Part Two – set to be released in November 2025.

The two-part film is an adaptation of the acclaimed stage musical Wicked, which was based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire and characters from L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

The film made its world premiere at Sydney’s State Theatre on Sunday, November 3.