What Is Snoop Dogg’s Real Name? The Rapper’s Moniker Off Stage
The world knows him as Snoop Dogg, but the rapper-turned-household entertainer held different names throughout his career. Before he became a star, Snoop was a Long Beach kid who was named after a special person in his life.
What Is Snoop Dogg’s Real Name?
The Voice coach’s real name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., taken after his stepfather, who was married to his late mother, Beverly Tate, until 1975, per People.
“Me and my father [Vernell Varnado] are real cool. It wasn’t like he ran out on us,” Snoop said of his family dynamic with SPIN in 1993. “But basically, my mama raised me. My mam did raise me.”
How Did Snoop Dogg Get His Stage Name?
While Snoop has always been a part of his name, the rest has changed over the years.
“Well, my first stage name was Snoop Rock Ski – because Kool Rock Ski from The Fat Boys. So, I took his little last name and made it mines. As I got older, I became Snoop Dogg. And then my cousin, his name was Tate Doggy Dogg,” the “Drop It Like It’s Hot” rapper told VLAD TV in a 2014 video interview. “I just liked the way that Doggy Dogg sounded. So, I was like, ‘I gotta have that.’”
His mother called him Snoopy and it stuck throughout his life.
“As a kid born in the [1970s], mom used to put on a TV show called Charlie Brown. And there was a character on there named Snoopy. And I used to love him to death,” he told CNBC in 2009. “And my mama said I started to look like him so much ’cause I watched him all the time, and that’s what they used to name me.”
Snoop briefly changed his stage name to Snoop Lion in 2012 and used the name for his album Reincarnated.
Snoop Dogg’s Career
The rapper trailblazed through the ‘90s after the 1993 release of his debut album, Doggystyle. As of publication, Snoop has released 20 solo debut albums and has featured in endless hits.
Snoop received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018, and he accepted the honor with an iconic speech.
“I want to thank me for believing in me, I want to thank me for doing all this hard work. I wanna thank me for having no days off. I wanna thank me for never quitting. I wanna thank me for always being a giver and trying to give more than I receive,” he said at the time. “I wanna thank me for trying to do more right than wrong. I wanna thank me for being me at all times, Snoop Dogg you a bad motherf–ker.”
In addition to his music career, Snoop has become a prominent celebrity television host and made the nation proud when he was the torch bearer and host for Team USA at the Paris Olympics between July and August 2024.
Snoop mixed both talents when he joined the season 26 coach panel on The Voice alongside Gwen Stefani, Reba McEntire and Michael Bublé.
“Well, if you know anything about me, you know I love all forms of music,” he said during a May 2024 appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. “So, this is a great opportunity for me to show that I really understand music, and to be a real coach and to really give direction to some of these artists that could be, you know, today’s next big thing.”