How Coco Gauff became known as Coco rather than her legal name Cori
When Coco Gauff first burst onto the scene, the tennis world knew her as Cori Gauff, her legal name. But that quickly changed, with the American superstar widely known now by one name and one name only.
Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images When Coco Gauff first burst onto the scene, the tennis world knew her as Cori Gauff, her legal name. But that quickly changed, with the American superstar widely known now by one name and one name only. Any traces of Cori have seemingly long been forgotten about by many inside and outside of the tennis world, including fans, her rivals and the media.
The WTA ace addressed the issue back at the 2024 US Open, when Gauff was just starting to attempt to successfully defend her title. Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images Coco Gauff explained her change from Cori Gauff back in 2024 After winning her opening match of the tournament in New York, the home hero revealed: “My aunt says she came up with calling me Coco. “But then my dad [Corey Gauff] said when he was younger, people used to call [him] ‘Co.
’ Then he was like, ‘I’ll call my daughter Coco. ’ “I don’t know which story is actually true, but they both get pretty mad if I don’t say both of them. “Every time I check into hotels or people at the airport… they look at my ID, and obviously [at] the airport you book under your real name, but the person sometimes will recognize me and they’ll be like, ‘Wait, are you Coco?
’ “I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s just a nickname. I’m not somebody that looks like her. ’ In the hotel, sometimes, like, ‘Well, we don’t have your room.