Meghan, Duchess of Sussex prefers not to use her maiden name: ‘It’s Sussex now!’

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex prefers not to use her maiden name because she has children now.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex prefers not to use her maiden name.

The 43-year-old former actress – who is married to Prince Harry and stepped back from royal duties in 2020 to move to LA – was joined by ‘The Office’ star Mindy Kaling on the set of her new reality show, where she reprimanded her friend for using her previous name of Meghan Markle.

Speaking in an episode ‘With Love, Meghan’ – which was released on Tuesday (04.03.25) – during a discussion about fast food, Mindy said: “I don’t think anyone in the world knows that Meghan Markle has eaten Jack in the Box.”

Meghan replied: “It’s so funny that you keep saying Meghan Markle, you know it’s Sussex now!”

The former ‘Suits’ star has Prince Archie, five, and three-year-old Princess Lilibet with the Duke of Sussex and explained that it is so “meaningful” to her that she shares a surname with her children.

She said: “When you have kids, and you share your name with your children, I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me but it means so much to go ‘This is our family name, our little family name.”

Mindy replied: “Well, I love it…:”

Meghan – who opted to drop her birth name of Rachel before fame and go her middle name instead – was given the royal title by the late Queen Elizabeth on her wedding day but hadn’t realised at the time just what the moniker would mean to her.

She told People: “It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognised how meaningful that would be to me until we had children.

“I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together. It means a lot to me. It’s a part of our love story.”