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How to choose a rap name

Owned by Nathan Wailes
Last updated: Nov 05, 2020
5 min read

Table of Contents

Why use a stage name? / Factors to keep in mind

If the style of your name contradicts other aspects of your persona, it may diminish the emotional effect of the music

  • Explanation
    • If you're trying to portray yourself as an intimidating person, but you have a name associated with something or someone not intimidating, that may make your job harder.
  • Examples
    • Snoop Dogg - His real name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.
    • 6ix9ine - His original rap handle was Tekashi69 ('Tekashi' from anime), but (and this is just my speculation) because he adopted an aggressive persona, the 'Tekashi' part kind of contradicts that (anime isn't intimidating), so it makes sense to shorten it. (Source)

Your name has the potential to arouse the curiosity / interest of potential listeners

  • Explanation
    • I have no evidence for this, it's just my speculation.
    • I suspect this effect is rare with the kinds of names most rappers choose; it might be more common for artists with more-colorful names, like rock bands.
    • It seems like–depending on your persona–going with a more-unusual name may make it harder to convey your persona through your name, or may conflict with your persona.
      • This is similar to how, if you start using unusual / rare words in your lyrics, it may conflict with your persona ("A gangster would never say 'salubrious'!").

If your name is longer, it may be harder to remember / more-annoying to say

  • Explanation
    • One reason to do this is that you want your name to be easy to remember, and if it's longer, it might be harder to remember.
    • It may be important for your name to be easy to remember earlier on to make it easier for word-of-mouth to help you get more fans.
    • A band like 'The Red Hot Chili Peppers' has a longer name but it's still easy to remember.
    • TODO: Analyze the distribution of syllable counts among top-selling artists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hip_hop_musicians
  • Examples
    • 6ix9ine - His original rap handle was Tekashi69 (five syllables if you pronounce it 'six-nine', six if you say 'sixty-nine').  But later it shortened to '6ix9ine' (two syllables). (Source)

It's not that hard to come up with a name that's good enough

  • Explanation
    • Relative to the difficulty with creating great music, it seems coming up with a good-enough name is not that hard.
    • A great name doesn't matter if your music is bad, but a bad name might hurt word-of-mouth even if your music is great.
    • It's like the package that food comes in, but even less important.
    • In other words, don't spend too much time on the decision.

You can try different names / change your name later if it becomes a burden

  • Explanation:
    • Depending on your situation, you don't need to stress too much about the decision, you can try different names and see what people like.
    • If you later run into some problem with your name, you can just change it.

If your name is offensive to certain groups, that may make it harder to get people talking about you

  • Examples
    • 2 Chainz originally went by 'Tity Boi' (pronounced "titty boy") but the word 'titty' wasn't media-friendly (it would get censored on TV) so he changed it.
    • Lil Dicky - I have no evidence for this, but I suspect he may have wanted to name himself 'Lil Dick' (self-deprecating humor) but that wouldn't have been family-friendly.

Methods Rappers Used

Base it on your real name

  • Examples
    • Drake - His middle name is 'Drake'.  His full name is Aubrey Drake Graham.
    • Lil Wayne - He was born with the first name "Dwayne" after his father and just dropped the "D" (Source)
    • Post Malone - His last name is 'Post', and 'Malone' came from a rap name generator.

Base it on your nickname

  • Explanation
    • ...
  • Examples
    • 2Chainz - His original rap name was based on his real nickname of 'Titty boy', which was just a playful southern slang term for a spoiled brat that his parents gave him as a nickname. (Source)
    • Jay-Z - Jay-Z had the nickname "Jazzy" growing up, which he modified into "Jay-Z". (Source)
    • Snoop Dogg - He had the nickname 'Snoopy' growing up (based on the cartoon dog).

Base it on the name of a person / place / thing you like

  • Examples
    • 21 Savage - He got the '21' from the 2100 Street Gang he was a member of, and just added 'Savage' because it sounded good.
    • 50 Cent - He just used the name of a Brooklyn robber.
      • The name was inspired by Kelvin Martin, a 1980s Brooklyn robber known as "50 Cent"; Jackson chose it "because it says everything I want it to say. I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was. I provide for myself by any means."
    • 6ix9ine - His original rap name was Tekashi69, where the 'Tekashi' was inspired from anime.  And it seems likely that he just eventually shortened it to 6ix9ine (two syllables) because that wasn't taken and he had adopted an intimidating persona, and Tekashi sounds Japanese / like something from anime, which isn't very intimidating. (Source)
    • Frank Ocean - He loved the original Ocean's 11, and he took the first name of Frank Sinatra (Sinatra is one of the stars in the movie).
    • Rick Ross - He just used the street name of an actual well-known drug dealer in LA (known as 'Freeway Rick' Ross).
    • Snoop Dogg - His parents nicknamed him Snoopy when he was young because he liked Snoopy a lot. (Source)
      • "I used to love him to death. And my mama said I started to look like him so much 'cause I watched him all the time, and that's what they used to name me." (Source)

Base it on someone else's stylized stage name

  • Explanation
    • Just be careful not to copy a name format that's already being used by too many artists (like all the rappers whose names start with "Lil").
  • Examples
    • Jay-Z - "Jay-Z" follows the name format of Jaz-O, who gave Jay-Z his first break. (Source)
    • Lil Wayne - 'Lil ____' was a name pattern other rappers were using already when he chose the name (Lil Kim was well known at the time).

Base it on a notable physical characteristic

  • Examples
    • Lil Bow Wow - He was young (and short) when he chose the name.
    • Lil Kim - She's short.
    • Lil Wayne - He's short.

Base it on a catchphrase / something you say a lot

  • Examples
    • 2 Chainz - He apparently chose the name because he was saying '2 Chainz' a lot in his lyrics.
      • "I always talk about jewelry and I always been saying 2 Chainz in a lot of my songs. But lately like the last year or so I’ve been saying it in introducing my records like ‘2 Chainz!’ and kinda making it family friendly."

Use a rap name generator

  • Examples
    • Childish Gambino - He got his name from the Wu-Tang Clan name generator.
    • Post Malone - His last name is 'Post' and he got 'Post Malone' from a rap name generator.

Rap name generators

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