In the second round of the 2001 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals drafted a wide receiver named Chad Javon Johnson.
Chad Johnson ended up playing for the Bengals for ten seasons — always with jersey number 85, but not always as “Chad Johnson.”
In 2006, he expressed his desire to change his surname to “Ocho Cinco” (which translates to “eight five” in Spanish).
He made the change legal in August of 2008, becoming “Chad Ochocinco.”
And, at the start of the 2009 football season, his #85 jersey finally featured the (matching!) surname Ochocinco.
In July of 2012, though, he legally changed his name back to Chad Johnson — retaining Ochocinco as a mere middle name. (This likely had something to do with his marriage to TV personality Evelyn Lozada the same month.)
Source: Chad Johnson – Wikipedia
Image: Adapted from Chad Johnson 2007 (public domain)
[Latest update: Mar. 2024]