How well do you know your favorite NFL player? Yes, you follow them on social media, you can recite their current stats at any given moment, and you own multiple versions of their home and away jerseys. However, there are aspects of this player's life that you don't know about. They are not who you thought they were (R.I.P. Dennis Green). In some cases, you don't even know their name -- literally. For a few players, the name that appears on the roster is a bit different than the one that appears on the birth certificate.
From Quintorris Lopez Jones to Elisha Nelson Manning, check out the real names of your favorite NFL stars.
Dak Prescott: Rayne Dakota Prescott
Kids can be cruel, classmates used to ridicule Dak Prescott for his given name. "When I started off school, they would always call me Rayne [RAINY], or Rayne [RYE-KNEE], or something," said Prescott on The Fan's Shan and RJ Show. "They'd be like, 'This is a girl's name,' so I just always went by Dakota, but I was given Dak by birth, so my family's always called me Dak."
Nearly two decades later, Rayne is a Pro Bowl quarterback leading America's Team.
Von Miller: Vonnie B'Vsean Miller Jr.
Shortening Vonnie to Von is pretty typical hypocorism, but the real star here is the middle name -- B'Vsean. The fact that five-time Pro Bowler is a junior just takes the legend of the name to the next level.
Eli Manning: Elisha Nelson Manning
The New York Giants have two Elis -- the veteran quarterback Eli Manning and the second-year cornerback Eli Apple. When the team drafted Apple in 2016, the two-time Super Bowl champ had a very Eli (Manning)-esque solution. "Never really cared about other people's names. I don't know what we'll do. We'll figure it out. I have seniority, so we can call him E.A. or Apple maybe," Manning told the New York Post. "I don't know. Call me Elisha, maybe, switch to my official full name. I dunno."
Julio Jones: Quintorris Lopez Jones
Atlanta's star wide receiver told the Mobile Press-Register that his mother started calling him Julio back when he was in the seventh grade. However, he does like his legal given name and the meaning behind it. "It's really no big deal to me," said Jones. "I like Quintorris. It means 'Gladiator.'"
Taco Charlton: Vidauntae Charlton
Taco said he got his nickname from his mother and grandmother, but his mom told DallasCowboys.com the name's origin is more than just a cute moniker for a baby. "Taco was a preemie -- he was about two months premature," said Tamara Charlton. "And at that time, Taco Bell had a commercial, 'Rushing for the Border' or 'Running for the Border.'
"My mom [Taco's grandmother] would say he was running for the border, since I kept going into pre-term labor."
Toby Gerhart: Tobin Bo Gunnar Gerhart
What a name. Seriously, Tobin Bo Gunnar Gerhart sounds like a character right out of Die Hard.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix: Ha'Sean Treshon Clinton-Dix
Ha'Sean's grandma gave him the nickname Ha Ha when he was a toddler because he giggled often, as he got older it stuck because people had difficulty pronouncing his given name. "People have called me Ha Ha since I was in elementary school, so that's just what it's been," Clinton-Dix told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "And I think it really blew up when I was in college and Coach (Nick) Saban was having a press conference. He said, 'Ha Ha,' and everybody was like, 'Who the heck is that?'"
T.Y. Hilton: Eugene Marquis Hilton
Contrary to fan rumors, the T.Y. does not stand for "thank you." The letters themselves don't actually stand for anything. "My daddy's name is Tyrone. So at Gwen Cherry Park (Miami), they abbreviated it and started calling me little T.Y," said Hilton in an interview with Sports Illustrated.
