Former Nigerian football stars Jay Jay Okocha and John Obi Mikel have shared the interesting origins of their names during a recent episode of the Obi One Podcast.
Okocha explained that his nickname ‘Jay Jay’ originally belonged to his younger brother, James. As they grew up in their neighborhood, they needed a way to distinguish between several players with the name Austin, leading to the adoption of ‘Jay Jay’ to identify him more easily.
He elaborated, saying, “When I traveled, some people were struggling to pronounce my name, ‘Augustine’. So, ‘Jay Jay’ was a lot easier. I decided to adopt the name, and now it’s officially in my passport.”
Similarly, Mikel recounted the change of his name from ‘Michael’ to ‘Mikel’. He noted that this occurred due to an administrative error during an Under-17 tournament when he submitted his name for jersey printing. Though he had provided ‘Michael’, the jerseys returned with ‘Mikel’, a version he now prefers. Mikel decided to keep the name, stating, “Mikel sounds better than Michael,” and has also made it official in his passport.
