Deion Sanders Changed The Way He Spelled His Name As A Kid Because Of “Old MacDonald Had A Farm,” & Everyone Just Went Along With It

I never would’ve guessed.

This week, Coach Prime himself, Deion Sanders, is the guest on Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast, where he of course talked football, being so public about his battle with bladder cancer, and he also revealed a little known fun fact… he spells his name wrong on purpose.

Jason and the New Heights team uncovered the fact that Deion’s name on his birth certificate is spelled “Dion,” and he asked the following:

“Is it true that your name is actually spelled ‘D-I-O-N?”

Prime seemed shocked that Jason knew that, and confirmed that it was true:

“Where are you guys getting this stuff from? That’s true!”

He went on to explain that he got the idea from a song most of us learned in Kindergarten or even earlier, “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” Sanders says he took inspiration from the letters in the song and it stuck:

“That’s true. But let me tell you what I did. You’re a kid going to school, learning how to spell and we all learn this song. If I say the first part, you gotta finish the second part…”

They sang a bit of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” together, and Deion said it’s as simple as the fact that he stole it from the old nursery rhyme. He just liked the way it’s spelled in the song, and decided to just change it and apparently everyone, including his parents, just went along with it:

“E-I-O. So it was ‘D-E-I-O-N. I got it from Old MacDonald! On my birth certificate, it’s D-I-O-N, but I’ve always spelled it D-E-I-O-N.”

I’m assuming this happened decades ago, and as Jason pointed out, you have to be a bad, bad man to be able to pull something like that off. To be a young child and completely go against what your parents have on your birth certificate just because you want to is hilarious and so on brand:

“You know how bad you gotta be to just change your name and people just go along with it?”

Deion laughed, and I think most all of us football fans probably learned something new about him in terms of his name. People in the comments section seemed pretty surprised to learn that it was true, and it’s just another endearing fun fact about Sanders that proves he’s always been this way and is authentically Prime time.

You have to love it…

@newheightshowDeion Sanders really changed his name because of a nursery rhyme ♬ original sound – New Heights

The full podcast is available below.

The post Deion Sanders Changed The Way He Spelled His Name As A Kid Because Of “Old MacDonald Had A Farm,” & Everyone Just Went Along With It first appeared on Whiskey Riff.