With a name as badass as Zendaya, who needs a surname? But believe it or not, the 22-year-old former Disney Channel star does actually have one. Her full name is Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman, having been born the only child of Claire Marie Stoermer and Kazembe Ajamu (who reclaimed his African name after he was born Samuel David Coleman). Her stage name, however, has only ever been just Zendaya.
When asked about the choice to drop her last name, the actress told Allure back in December 2016 that she simply liked the sound of the one-word stage name better. "I [dropped my last name because I] just thought it was cool, like Cher or Prince," she explained. Makes sense to us (and we think Rihanna and Beyoncé would also agree). By the way: it's pronounced zen-day-uh, not zen-die-uh. "I think a lot of people see my name and think it's more fancy than it is," she said to Teen Vogue.
When asked about the choice to drop her last name, the actress told Allure back in December 2016 that she simply liked the sound of the one-word stage name better. "I [dropped my last name because I] just thought it was cool, like Cher or Prince," she explained. Makes sense to us (and we think Rihanna and Beyoncé would also agree). By the way: it's pronounced zen-day-uh, not zen-die-uh. "I think a lot of people see my name and think it's more fancy than it is," she said to Teen Vogue.
- 9/26/2019
- by Corinne Sullivan
- Popsugar.com
"She's a tough one, man. She goin' all the way." This is what Kazembe Ajamu said about his daughter Zendaya when she was on the cover of Vogue's Tk 2017 cover. A little over a year later, she's done it. Since becoming a Disney Channel fixture when she starred on their hit series Shake It Up at just 13, Zendaya, who turns 22 today, has seamlessly made the transition from child star to one of young Hollywood's most formidable forces…and she did it on her own terms. Making she was completely in control of her career and image after briefly trying to exude the typical image of a Disney Girl—a moment she looked back on with Vogue, saying, "I realized that was...
- 9/1/2018
- E! Online
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