Nigerian Afropop sensation, Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe, unveils the origin of her stage name, “Ayra Starr,” in a recent Christmas interview on Arise TV.
Ayra Starr credits her label boss, Michael “Don Jazzy” Ajereh, for helping conceptualize the moniker. She shares that while she came up with the word “Ayra,” signifying being “woke and open-minded,” Don Jazzy contributed the suffix “Starr.”
Before joining Mavin Records, Ayra Starr reveals that her stage name was initially “Oyin,” derived from her given name, Oyinkansola.
In her own words:
“There is this Yoruba name called Ira, I wanted people to pronounce it as ‘Aira.’ And I was like the only way the can pronounce it is by spelling it ‘A Y R A.’ So, I was thinking about it and something just told me to go ‘A Y R A.’
And when I did, everything just came together: The meaning of the name, it felt like God was speaking to me. And ‘Starr’ was Don Jazzy’s idea. Ayra means ‘woke and open-minded.’ And that’s what I want. I want to be honored and respected.”
