Carmelo Anthony Reveals Why he Tried to Change His Name to ‘Tyrone’

Carmelo Anthony joins the Los Angeles Lakers for the win and fans would like to know everything about him, including his plans to change his name. Talented Melo got the chance to play with LeBron James for the first time in his career. The Lakers didn’t really want him on the roster a few years ago. Yes, LeBron did try to bring his dear friend in LA.  Melo is a great star and a lot of young players look up to him.

The newly-signed Lakers veteran went on Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard to talk about his new deal, the role he will get in LA, and this unexpected desire to change his identity.

“I’m in 3rd grade. I’m coming from New York,” said Melo. “Nobody knows who the hell I am [in Baltimore]. I come the summer of ’92. School starts in September. So I have two months to meet some people, hang out. Mind you, I’m 8 or 9 years old at this point. When I get to 3rd grade, first day of school you gotta write your name on a white index card.”

Carmelo Anthony wanted to change his name for a reason

What made Melo want to change his identity? I guess he was dealing with too many bullies back then. Melo said people picked up on him just because he was ‘Melo’. Some called him ‘Camelo’. Frustrating, right? It was time to change that and Carmelo wanted to be Tyrone Johnson.

That whole summer, people was butchering my name. It was just like ‘Caramelo’ and ‘Camelo’. “There wasn’t no nothing bad to it. I just didn’t like people f–ing my name up. … So I write the name ‘Tyrone’ and I’m looking around and I’m like ‘what last name am I gonna go with?’ So I see a textbook and it’s like ‘Johnson’ and something textbook. So I’m like, ‘Tyrone Johnson’.”

I guess everyone knows his name now. Melo became a star in the league and he won a lot of games with his teams. His performance declined over the years and he ended up taking bench role. It was a big change for big Melo, but he doesn’t mind it at all. The veteran is all-in when it comes to winning.