What Is Ginger Zee's Real Name? The 'Dancing With The Stars' Contestant Has A Great Monicker

On the Dancing with the Stars premiere on Monday night, many celebrities took to the stage to show off their best dance moves. Some of them were great, others were not. One of the standouts of the premiere week of Dancing with the Stars was Ginger Zee, Good Morning America's weather anchor. While I don't question Zee's talent and potential to win the Mirror Ball Trophy, I do have one big question about the frontrunner: What is Ginger Zee's real name? While I think her name is perfect for her career, I can't help but wonder if that is the name she was given at birth — in that case, she was born for TV.

Well, after a little investigating, I can confidently say that Zee's real last name is not Zee, although when you see her birth surname, you'll see how she came up with her TV persona name. Ginger Zee was actually born Ginger Zuidgeest, according to the Chicago Sun Times' Splash. It seems that Zee took the last initial of her surname and made it her stage name. "Zee" is not only smart, but it's also a strong tribute to her heritage.

For those that question if Ginger is even her first name, ABC News writes that their awesome weather anchor was indeed born with the name. According to ABC News, Ginger was given the name after Ginger in Gilligan's Island. The article says that Gilligan's Island was one of the shows her father watched after moving to the United States from the Netherlands to learn English, and Ginger was his favorite character.

No matter what her name is, Zee is definitely a frontrunner on this season of Dancing with the Stars. In her first week, Zee and partner Val Chmerkovskiy scored an impressive 23 on their jive in Week 1. The two tied for first place, proving that they're definitely a couple to watch.