The Story Behind Some of Esports’ Most Popular Player Names

Have you ever wondered how some pro esports players got their name? Take a look at these players and the reasons for their current nicknames here.

Unlike in sporting events, professional video game players are commonly known through the nickname they give themselves. Their skills have made these nicknames synonymous with greatness. It garnered respect from fans and casual players no matter how weird that name sounds.

But have you ever wondered why or how some pro players chose the name they are known today? Some of them have actually told a bit about how they came up with their name, so why not check out their reasons:

Faker

Any long-time League of Legends fan knows how greatly influential Lee Sang-hyeok is in giving the game the hype it deserves. But Lee’s real name isn’t the one being seen in listings from sports betting Japan. Punters know him as Faker, the mid laner from T1, and one of the greatest LoL players of all time.

Lee admitted that his nickname had negative connotations but he tries to make it sound like a great name. Lee got the name ‘Faker’ from when he was playing StarCraft. He was inspired by a player named MarineKingPrime who copied the play style of another player named BoxeR. Consequently, Lee was also labelled a fake version of BoxeR and it eventually evolved into Faker.

JerAx

Jesse Vainikka is a Dota 2 player famously known for being a member of OG, the team that won back-to-back The International titles in 2018 and 2019. He currently plays as a support for Evil Geniuses, and is one of the highest-paid Dota 2 players of all time.

It was revealed that Vainikka got his nickname ‘JerAx’ by combining his name with a Mortal Kombat character named Cyrax, a cyborg warrior from the Lin Kuei clan. Vainikka played Mortal Kombat in the past before he committed himself to Dota 2.

Dev1ce

Nicolai Reedtz is recognised as one of the best Counter Strike: Global Offensive players of all time due to the fact that he won the most career MVPs of any player in the world. He made his CS:GO debut in 2013 under the nickname ‘devve’ but changed his name in 2016 to ‘dev1ce’.

It is believed that Reedtz got the new nickname after it was given to him by fellow CS:GO pro player Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander. Reedtz and Rossander are close friends and have known each other since they were adolescents.

Creating a nickname before you play a video game is easy, but making a name for yourself in the esports scene takes a lot of time and effort before your skills get recognised by professional teams. However, it’s not such a bad idea to dream about being compared among the greatest players in the game you want to play. Who knows, your name or your team’s might be included in sports betting Japan’s listings someday.