New Orleans Saints running back Travis Etienne has revealed the correct way to pronounce his name after claiming people have been getting it wrong for years.
Etienne, who put pen to paper on a four-year, $52million free agency deal with the Saints this week, made the shock clarification during his introductory press conference in New Orleans.
He told reporters that instead of the assumed ‘Ee-tee-en’ pronunciation, his last name should actually be said like ‘Ay-chan’.
‘So it’d be like A-c-h-a-n-e, and that’s how you always say Travis Etienne,’ the 27-year-old told reporters.
Etienne went on to explain how he is partly to blame for the confusion, after accepting the mispronunciation out of ease during his college days at Clemson.
‘When I went to college, I kept telling them my name every day, every day, every day, and they just couldn’t get it,’ he said. ‘I’m like, “It’s Ee-Tee-En”, how you see it is how you say it.”
Saints running back Travis Etienne has revealed the correct way to pronounce his name
Etienne, who has signed for New Orleans after five seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, says people have been getting his name wrong for years
‘It just took off because it was easy for the announcers to say it, I didn’t have to correct them every day to say my name.’
However, he added: ‘I’m very much open to being Travis “Ay-Chan” again, just being myself. I don’t have to correct people here on how to say my name each and every day, and I kinda love that. Just get back to me.’
Etienne’s $52m deal in New Orleans makes him the highest-paid rusher in the NFL, five years after he was taken by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the 25th overall pick in the 2021 Draft.
The ex-Tigers star went in the first round after a stellar college career in South Carolina, where he won a national championship in 2018 and swept up numerous awards, including Offensive Player of the Year. He was also a three-time All-American and two-time ACC Player of the Year.
In his four seasons with the Jaguars, he posted three 1,000-yard campaigns for a total of 3,798 rushing yards and 25 rushing touchdowns in 66 games, as well as 1,338 receiving yards and seven scores through the air.
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NFL star Travis Etienne stuns fans by revealing everybody has been saying his name wrong for YEARS