Travis Scott's Real Name Isn't What You Think

Travis Scott broke out in the rap scene in 2012 as Travi$ Scott, achieving recognition when he was included in Kanye West's record label GOOD Music's compilation album "Cruel Summer," All Music noted. At some point around late 2015 or early 2016, Scott quietly dropped the dollar sign from his name with no formal announcement by simply swapping the symbol for a regular "S" on his social media pages and official website, as Fader reported at the time. In 2014, Scott told Forbes that he added the dollar sign after drawing inspiration from an influential New York hip-hop artist. "I did it just because of Ma$e. I go in between it everyday because there's so many rappers with that [dollar sign] but I just felt like it looks fresh," Scott said.

Rappers are known for taking stage names that go on to become an intrinsic part of their identities. And while many noms de scène sound clearly made up, others are harder to discern. Scott belongs to the later group. As Capital Xtra noted, the rapper is also known as La Flame and Cactus Jack, which sound like artistic aliases. But the name he is most commonly associated with is one that could be his real name — but it isn't. The rapper is neither Travis nor Scott. In fact, Scott's birth name is arguably, as Fader suggested, a born-ready rapper's name. Instead, he opted to honor a family member and an American rapper with his stage name.

"Travis Scott" is a completely made-up name with no relation to his birth name. Named after his father, Scott was actually born Jacques Bermon Webster II, a name that can be seen printed on the birth certificate of his daughter with Kylie Jenner, Stormi, which TMZ published in February 2018. As the document shows, Stormi's last name is Webster, a detail Jenner shared with her fans when she announced the birth of their first child on Instagram. At the time, some social media users believed "Webster" was the baby girl's middle name, as Insider pointed out. 

With the first part of his stage name, Scott chose to honor a special uncle, to whom he looked up. "He was like my favorite uncle. My favorite relative ... He just had swag. That n​**** was just smart. Always made good decisions, good business decisions," Scott told Grantland in 2014. The second part of his artist name was inspired by a musician he admires. "Kid Cudi is, like, one of my favorite artists of all time, and his real name is Scott Mescudi," he said on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in 2018, referring to a fellow rapper. The artist went on to explain that his friends of his uncle Travis also used to call him Scott. "It kind of worked out like that. So, it was like, my two superheroes, you know," Scott said. 

Considering Travis Scott is the rapper's stage name and his actual name is Jacques Bermon Webster II, what does he actually go by? At least in interviews, his girlfriend and mother on his child (soon to be children) appears to call him "Travis" and not "Jacques." Speaking on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2019, the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star listed the people who accompanied her to Europe for her birthday celebrations, noting that "Travis was there, Stormi was there." Similarly, after Jenner and Scott broke up in 2019, she took to her Twitter to note that the two were focusing on their daughter. "Travis and i are on great terms and our main focus right now is Stormi ‼️ our friendship and our daughter is priority," she wrote.

More recently, Jenner once again took to Instagram to share a story addressing the tragedy that left at least eight dead at the Astroworld Festival in Houston, CNN reported. In her statement, Jenner extended her sympathies to the victims and the families of everyone affected by the shocking events, while also sharing her heartbreak for her partner. "Travis and I are broken and devastated," she opened her message. She referenced him again later. "My thoughts and prayers are with all who lost their lives, were injured or affected in any way by yesterday's events. And also for Travis who I know cares deeply for his fans and the Houston community," Jenner concluded.