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How Did Snoop Dogg Get His Stage Name?
The Voice Season 26 Coach's journey from Calvin to Snoop, explained.
He may have been born "Calvin," but the rapper and The Voice Season 26 Coach known professionally as Snoop Dogg will always be the D-O-double-G to his fans. Read on, below, to find out how his iconic stage name came about.
How did Snoop Dogg get his stage name?
Believe it or not, from Snoopy, the beagle from Peanuts.
Growing up in Long Beach, California, young Calvin loved the Peanuts cartoon show. As he explained to NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, "My mother’d say, 'You watch [Snoopy the dog] so much, you startin’ to look like him.' So she started calling me Snoopy. That’s the only name my mother called me my whole life. My mother never called me by my real name, my whole life. All she ever called me was Snoopy. That became my name, that became who I was when I went outside to play, when I went to school, when I went to church, Snoopy."
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What is Snoop Dogg's real name?
Snoop Dogg was born on October 20, 1971, and named Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., after his stepfather.
How many stage names has Snoop Dogg used?
"Snoopy" became "Snoop Doggy Dogg" as the rapper began his career, and he used the "dog" moniker as part of his overall branding. His first album, released in 1993, was called Doggstyle, followed by Tha Doggfather in 1996. On those albums, he collaborated with his cousin Nathan Hale, who uses the name "Nate Dogg."
Olympic commentator Snoop dropped the "Doggy" middle name when he released his third album in 1998.
The rapper briefly changed his moniker to "Snoop Lion" for the release of his Reincarnated album in 2012, though he hasn't used "Lion" on any projects since. The same year, he released an album under the name DJ Snoopadelic, inspired by the rock band Funkadelic. In an interview about the project with Fader, the artist makes light of his ever-shifting identities, calling himself "Snooperman."
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In the 2013 Parks and Recreation episode "Fluoride" (Season 6, Episode 8), the hip-hop-loving character Tom Haverford observes, "No one cared about Calvin Broadus until he started calling himself Snoop Doggy Dogg. Then when people got tired of that, he went by Snoop Dogg, and now he's Snoop Lion. What's he gonna be in 10 years? Snoop Laser Snake? Who knows?" As of 2024, he is not Snoop Laser Snake, but never say never.
