Travis Etienne Jr. has been on the national football scene for almost a decade after a stellar career at Clemson and a good start to his NFL career with the Jacksonville Jaguars. But after signing a free agent contract with the New Orleans Saints, Etienne gave a surprise to the media in attendance at his introductory press conference.
We have been mispronouncing his last name for years.
The Louisiana native told the gathered reporters that his last name is actually pronounced like De’Von Achane of the Miami Dolphins. However, after repeated attempts to get it right in college, he gave up and told everyone that it was pronounced how it looks, and that’s how the saying of Etienne that has been part of the football lexicon for years came to be.
PSA: Travis Etienne Jr. on how to pronounce his last name pic.twitter.com/UNfFdXcrCg
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) March 13, 2026
“Growing up it’s Travis Etienne, a-c-h-a-n-e. That’s how you always said Travis Etienne. But when I went to college I kept telling them my name every day, every day, every day. After like four weeks they just couldn’t get it. So I’m just like, man, it’s Etienne. How you see it is how you say it. That’s how that became, and it kind of took off because it was easier for announcers to say it. I didn’t have to correct them every day to say my name, and I started learning more about my last name and how it came about and things like that, it kind of stuck and made sense. But I’m very much open to being Travis Etienne [Achane] again, being myself. I don’t have to correct people here on how to say my name each and every day and I kind of love that,” Etienne said.
Travis Etienne Jr. isn’t the first NFL running back to try to correct us on the proper pronunciation of his name. Falcons star Bijan Robinson tried to do the same this summer, although that didn’t really take off unfortunately.
Given the unique culture and linguistics of New Orleans and greater Louisiana, odds are that the local media will fully embrace the request from one of their own. Getting the rest of the country on board may be a tougher ask, though.
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