What does SZA stand for? Singer’s stage name explained

Singer-songwriter SZA was one of the headlining artists at Glastonbury 2024. Her name has often come up in streams, as Twitch star Kai Cenat couldn’t get enough of her. People wonder what her name really means

SZA is an American singer-songwriter who has been making music since the early 2010s. She released her very first album, ‘Ctrl,’ in 2017, and it received critical acclaim. SZA was also nominated for several awards.

Since then, she has become an icon in the music industry and most recently released her latest album, ‘SOS,’ in December 2022. Fans couldn’t get enough of her new music, and even Twitch star Kai Cenat celebrated the album’s release on his stream on launch day.

With SZA gaining so much popularity due to her latest album and her recent performance at Glastonbury festival in England, some newcomers are interested in what her name means.

Meaning of ‘SZA’

SZA comes from a family of multiple religions, with her mother being Christian and her father being Muslim. The singer herself is Muslim and took her name from the Supreme Alphabet, which was created by the Five-Percent Nation — a Black nationalist movement that is influenced by Islam.

The Supreme Alphabet is defined as a method of interpreting and discovering deeper meaning in words by giving special meanings to the letters in the Latin alphabet.

Using the Supreme Alphabet, the first letter in SZA’s stage name could mean either ‘savior’ or ‘sovereign,’ while the last two letters stand for ‘zig-zag’ and Allah.’

Instagram: sza

The meaning goes deeper, though: The ‘zig-zag’ portion of her name means enlightenment of the self. Altogether, SZA’s name can be interpreted as a sovereign, powerful woman who has found enlightenment in herself, through her belief in Allah.

She isn’t the only artist to have named herself this way, as she got influenced by Wu-Tang rapper RZA, who used the Supreme Alphabet in his stage name, as well.

These questions about SZA’s stage name came after the singer was invited to stream with Kai Cenat, which she expressed an interest in — but said she was a little “scared” of “embarrassing herself” in front of his fans.