Coco Gauff jokes about people not knowing her 'real name' with amusing meme

Modified Apr 09, 2025 06:26 GMT

Coco Gauff at the 2025 Miami Open. Image: Getty

Coco Gauff used a meme trend to joke about people not knowing her "real name". Gauff is known worldwide as Coco and even uses it officially, including on the WTA circuit. However, the 2023 US Open champion's birth name is Cori Dionne Gauff as mentioned in her biography page on the Olympics official website.

Gauff used a meme trend doing the rounds online with the tagline:

"When bro's name is so iconic that his real name is just a myth."

The pictures accompanying the tagline range from anime characters to rap artists.

Gauff took to Instagram to share a meme with the same tagline that showed the Colosseum in ancient Rome with the games about to begin. The image was focused on a man stretching an arm out, apparently announcing the entry of a gladiator in dramatic fashion.

Gauff used the laugh till cry emoji and hilariously captioned it:

"The way 99% people don't remember my real name."

Screengrab from Coco Gauff's Instagram @cocogauff

The World No. 4 recently made a Round-of-16 exit from the 2025 Miami Open after losing to Magda Linette. She is currently taking a break in her hometown in Florida and keeps her fans updated with pictures and videos from her downtime.

Gauff will next head to Germany for the upcoming 2025 Stuttgart Open scheduled for April 12-20.

Coco Gauff shared the story behind changing her name at the US Open 2024

Coco Gauff at the 2025 Indian Wells. Image: Getty

Coco Gauff shared two stories behind dropping her birth name, Cori, in favor of Coco at the 2024 US Open. It was Gauff's mother who gave her the nickname when she was young so she wouldn't confuse it with calling out Gauff's father Corey.

In a press conference after her first-round victory over Varvara Gracheva, the defending champion at the time said [7:55 onwards]:

"With Coco there are two stories. My aunt says she came up with calling me Coco. But then my dad said, when he was younger, people used to call me Co. Then he was like, I'll call my daughter Coco. I don't know which story is actually true, but they both get pretty bad if I don't say both of them. I just say that."

She also shared a hilarious anecdote about her name.

"Every time I check into hotels or people at the airport, they look at my ID, obviously the airport you book under your real name, but the person sometimes will recognize me and they'll be like, 'Wait, are you Coco?', I'm like, 'Yeah, it's just a nickname. I'm not somebody that looks like her," she added [7:18 onwards].

Gauff's 2024 US Open campaign later came to a halt with a fourth-round loss against Emma Navarro.

About the author

Stuti is a journalist who has been covering Tennis at Sportskeeda for almost two years. A firm believer in sticking to facts and not overselling them, giving proper context, and maintaining a neutral tone in her articles, her disciplined reporting methods have garnered close to 1 million reads so far, with one of her articles receiving nearly 100,000 views and gaining global recognition.

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Edited by Samya Majumdar