Mariah Carey Reveals Real Last Name In Throwback TV Clip

Mariah Carey could have been Maria Nuñez had her grandfather not changed his last name.

A Mariah Carey fan-run YouTube channel MariahRaw dug up an old TV clip of the singer -- possibly from Venezuelan TV in the 1990s -- discussing the history of her last name and roots.

In the clip, Carey talks about how her father was the son of an African-American mother and a Venezuelan immigrant father named Francisco Nuñez.

"My grandfather made up the name 'Carey' when he came to America, to be more accepted I guess," the singer told the show's host. "But that's funny because that's an Irish name and Irish people [were] discriminated at that time too so it didn't really work."

Carey has never shied away from sharing that she's Afro-Latina, but it seems the history of her last name has influenced her discography.

"That's why on the album I just put 'Mariah' now. It's not even my real last name anyway," she said in the clip.

"I'll just be Mariah," she laughs.

H/T Mic