Wait, what is Meghan's last name?

World view

- By GINA CHERELUS

In "Romeo and Juliet," the star-crossed heroine asks: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet."

People far less infatuated have wrestled with this concept for hundreds of years: how much should a name signify, and does it actually affect what or who a person is?

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, would like a word.

In her new Netflix series, "With Love, Meghan," the duchess, who is married to Prince Harry, told actress Mindy Kaling that her last name was Sussex, correcting Kaling, who had referred to her by a more familiar name: Meghan Markle.

"It's so funny, too, that you keep saying Meghan Markle," Meghan said in the second episode of the series, which premiered last week. "You know I'm Sussex now."

Meghan cited the importance of sharing a last name with her children.

"I didn't know how meaningful it would be to me, but it just means so much to go, 'This is our family name, our little family name,'" she said.

Kaling, who initially seemed surprised, replied, "Well, now I know, and I love it."

It's understandable that Meghan would want people to use the name that she and Prince Harry have chosen as their family name and which appears on their passports, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. But as with most Meghan-related news, the clip quickly made waves online as people took to social media to criticize her. Some commenters thought she was being pretentious, and others called her out over a belief that she had seemingly confused her royal house with the family's surname.