BTS Member Reveals The Real Meaning Behind His Stage Name After 13 Years
When SUGA took his turn, the singer, real name Min Yoon-gi, finally got the chance to share the real story behind his stage name.
- Lifestyle News
- 2 min read
BTS members - Taehyung, RM, Jungkook, Jin, Jimin, J-hope and Suga made their power-packed comeback with ARIRANG. With a grand tour ahead, Spetet are busy with promotional interviews and have shared several surprising revelations after a four-year hiatus. ARMY may have believed they knew every detail about BTS, but Suga has revealed a fact so obscure that even his bandmates had no clue about.
In the latest episode of Wired’s search-engine autocomplete series, BTS answered questions about both the group and themselves. When SUGA took his turn, the singer, real name Min Yoon-gi, finally got the chance to share the real story behind his stage name.
While reading a prompt from his cue card that says “‘SUGA name meaning,'” he said, “I can finally explain this now.”
He then explained that he took his stage name from UFC fighter Sean O’Malley, whose nickname was Suga, without the letter “R.” O’Malley’s nickname traces back to another professional fighter. SUGA told his bandmates, “There’s a legendary boxer named Sugar Ray Leonard. So people who have technical striking skills, the specialists, are called Suga.”
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He also shared that Bang Si-Hyuk, the founder of BTS’ label, HYBE, and a big boxing fan, once suggested the name to him. “Since you’re technical with your rap, you should be Suga.”
Since he had always felt that the real story was “too annoying to explain,” SUGA said he used to tell people that his name came from a shortened form of “shooting guard,” a basketball position. After he finished, J-Hope responded, “This is my first time hearing this,” while the other members reacted with visible surprise. Even after hearing the explanation, fans remained unsure whether to believe him, as he had been “lying” about it for many years.