SOUTH BEND — Brauntae Johnson, uber-talented third-year safety for Notre Dame football, wants you to know he’s not experiencing an identity crisis.
Known as “Tae” or “Tae Tae” since his youth football days in Fort Wayne, the rising star of the Irish secondary has a 17-month-old daughter and a more serious approach to life in general.
In accordance with that, Johnson would like the world to learn how to pronounce his given first name. It’s “Bray-ON-tae,” he advised after the team’s third practice of fall camp on Saturday, Aug. 8.
“It’s a change I’m asking for,” he said. “I just want the country or everybody, really, just to know who I am. I like my nickname. I still want to go by Tae Tae, but my real name is Brauntae. I want people to just know that.”
Johnson’s name on the official roster has been “Brauntae” since his arrival ahead of the 2024 season. Notre Dame, in an email to local media, requested the following this week: “(P)lease refer to #9 Brauntae Johnson as such and not as Tae. His name on the official roster is Brauntae, and all articles, posts, and content should refer to him as such.”
That communique was a bit more stringent than Johnson made his wishes sound Saturday.
“(People) can do what they want with it at the end of the day,” he said. “I just wanted it to be more out there. My real name is Brauntae. My real name is not Tae Tae, Tae or anything of that (nature). Tae Tae is a nickname.”
Adding to the confusion is the fact that Johnson’s Instagram (@new_era3_) and X (@taejohnson1012) still list him as “Tae Tae” for his combined 17,000 followers on those accounts.
“All my social media, they have ‘Tae Tae’ on it, which it will probably remain that way,” Johnson said. “But as far as football, just my normal life, I just want everybody to know me as Brauntae.”
When it was suggested the name change might be part of his overall maturation, Johnson agreed with that notion.
“Yeah, that’s part of it too, for sure,” he said. “Just growing up as a young man, having my daughter (Jazora) and stuff like that, I just want to start being more professional and having more of a grown mindset. It’s all just getting older and growing up.”
Why ‘Tae Tae’ could be a tough name to shake
For his teammates, however, old habits die hard.
Running back Kedren Young, who arrived in the same recruiting class as Johnson, called him “Tae Tae” three different times in a single answer the day before, when asked to name defensive standouts this summer.
As in: “I think Tae Tae is a great player.”
Senior cornerback Christian Gray chuckled a bit when asked how he would address the safety now.
“We call him Tae Tae,” Gray said. “We call him Tae Tae, for sure. But people call him Brauntae.”
Is that now the best way to get the safety’s attention?
“I mean, you can call him that,” Gray said. “You can call him Nine. He’s going to respond. He’s going to know.”
All-America cornerback Leonard Moore, who Gray regularly calls “Lenny,” sat one table away from Johnson in the Irish Athletics Center as the subject was raised.
“Being called Brauntae other than Tae Tae?” Moore said. “I think that’s good for him. I don’t know his rationale behind his decision, but I’m going to call him whatever he wants to be called. I think he wants to take some pride in his first name.”
As for Moore, who shares a first name with his father, a University of Texas professor of American history and acclaimed author, he’s fine with either “Leonard” or the shortened version.
“I really don’t care,” said Leonard Kevin Moore, adding he wasn’t aware of Pro Football Hall of Fame running back/flanker Lenny Moore, the Baltimore Colts great who is still going strong at 92.
“Oh, wow; I didn’t know that,” the Irish cornerback said. “I don’t mind that. Most people call me Leonard, but obviously my teammates call me Lenny because … you know.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: No more Tae Tae? Notre Dame football standout Braunte Johnson on name ‘change’
Reporting by Mike Berardino, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mike Berardino, South Bend Tribune | USA TODAY Network
