Before she was SZA, she was Solána Imani Rowe (via PopSugar). She spoke to Genius about conceptualizing her stage name and how it sounded closely like her own nickname. "It just kinda like stumbled on me, cause my name is Solána... People called me Sos for short, which comes from Sosa." But she didn't want to be confused for rapper Chief Keef, who also went by Sosa (via Genius). She then looked to the "Supreme Alphabet" for inspiration.
The artist broke the abbreviation down for InStyle: "It's an acronym derived from the Supreme Alphabet [of the Nation of Gods and Earths, an alphanumeric code developed by Clarence 13X] if you're familiar with Wu-Tang and RZA [who also chose his name based on the Supreme Alphabet]. So, each letter stands for a different ideology and theme. The S stands for Sovereign or Self, Savior; the Z stands for Zig-Zag-Zig, which is enlightenment and acknowledgement of one's self; and the A stands for the most high of all [Allah]." Guess that fan was right!
