Amid News That We’ve Been Pronouncing Travis Kelce’s Name Wrong This Whole Time, A Resurfaced Clips Shows He Spent The First “25 Years” Of His Life Saying It Wrong Too

“I have been saying Kel-ce way too long to stop now,” one fan wrote.

Every now and then, a celebrity will surprise fans by revealing that their name has long been pronounced wrong.

Rihanna on The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Take Rihanna, for example, who revealed in 2010 — and again in 2019 — that her name is pronounced “Re-ANNE-uh,” not “Re-AHH-na.”

Close-up of Rihanna

The same goes for Chrissy Teigen, who admitted in 2018 — after spending years in the spotlight — that she was “tired” of living a “lie” as she revealed her last name is actually pronounced “Tie-gen.”

Close-up of Chrissy at a media event

Well, now it turns out that we’ve been saying NFL player Travis Kelce's name wrong too.

Close-up of Travis in a football uniform with his hand over his heart

In a new clip from Inside the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs' Chris Jones educated some of his fellow athletes on the real pronunciation of Travis’s name while on the sidelines of the Chiefs' game against the Miami Dolphins.

Close-up of Travis on the football field

“Y’all know it's not even 'Travis Kel-see'?” Chris told the other players. One asked, “What is it?” To which Chris replied, “It’s 'Travis Kels.' Fucking crazy, right?”

Close-up of Travis in an NFL hoodie

Interestingly, this is something that Travis actually revealed himself on an episode of his New Heights podcast last February.

Close-up of Travis in a Chiefs shirt

In the episode, which is now making the rounds on social media again, Travis and his older brother, Jason, asked their dad, Ed, why they’d spent the first “25 years” of their lives believing that their last name was pronounced “Kel-see.”

Jason, Ed, and Travis on the podcast wearing headphones

Hilariously, Ed admitted that he simply “got tired of correcting people” when they mispronounced his surname, noting that he became known as “Kel-see” at work.

Jason, Ed, and Travis on the podcast wearing headphones

In fact, Ed revealed that Travis and Jason’s mom, Donna, also thought that his last name was pronounced “Kel-see” back in the day too.

Travis and Donna in baseball jerseys as Travis acknowledges the crowd by raising his cap

When Jason ultimately asked if he and Travis should go by “Kel-see” or “Kels,” Ed replied, “Do whatever you want. I did!”

Jason, Ed, and Travis on the podcast wearing headphones

Jason made it clear that he still wanted to be known as Jason Kel-see, telling Travis, “Don’t call me ‘Kels.’” But on the other hand, Travis said, “You can be fucking Jason Kel-see, I’ll be fucking Travis Kels.”

Travis on the podcast wearing headphones

Reacting to the revelation now, tons of social media users joked that at this point, the “Kel-see” pronunciation is “here to stay.”

Travis smiling in a suit and sunglasses at a media event

“I have been saying Kel-ce way too long to stop now,” one person said. “Sorry, Kelci is here to stay,” said another.

Travis smiling and wearing a cap as he takes questions at a media event

Meanwhile, someone else quipped, “So they just never corrected anyone or didn’t care?” Someone else wrote, “All these years and they never once corrected anyone.”

Jason, Ed, and Travis on the podcast wearing headphones

The more you know!

Topics in this article

Skip to footer