What was Yves Saint Laurent's full name at birth?

Yves Saint Laurent's full name at birth was Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent.

He was born on 1 August 1936 in Oran, then part of French Algeria, to French parents Charles and Lucienne Mathieu-Saint-Laurent. The hyphenated family name is part of the canonical form, which is why shortened variants such as “Yves Henri Mathieu Saint-Laurent” are not exact answers.

As a child, Saint Laurent designed paper dolls and clothing sketches for his mother and sisters. He moved to Paris in 1954 to study at the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, beginning the training that led to his career in haute couture.

He became famous internationally after working at Christian Dior and later founded his own fashion house with Pierre Bergé. Although the public almost always calls him simply Yves Saint Laurent—or YSL—his longer birth name is preserved in biographies and archival records.