How Did Bad Bunny Really Get His Famous Stage Name?

You've probably heard the name Bad Bunny, but what about Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio? Unless you're a die-hard Bad Bunny fan, you probably have never heard that name before. But it's actually Bad Bunny's legal name...but there's an interesting story behind how he came up with the stage name.

The Bad Bunny many know today didn't come to the spotlight until around 2016 when he began releasing music on SoundCloud in college. By 2017, he had hit singles like "Pa Ti" and "Sensualidad." He would go on to collaborate with some of the biggest singers in the music industry like Cardi B. to J. Balvin. Bad Bunny's 2022 album, "Un Verano Sin Ti," — which hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 200 charts and stayed there for 13 weeks — made it clear that the rapper was a force to be reckoned with.

Bad Bunny is a name you don't want to mess around with, but how did the singer go from Ocasio to Bad Bunny? Well, the stage name Bad Bunny dates back to when he was a little kid.

As a kid, sometimes you don't get a choice in what you do or what you wear, and Bad Bunny knew this firsthand. The Latin singer actually got his stage name from an Easter costume he wore as a kid. 

When speaking with E! News in 2020, the Grammy-winning musician revealed how he got his stage name and even had a photo to showcase the moment that inspired Bad Bunny. He shared, "Bad Bunny, that name comes from a picture when I was a kid. I think that I was six years old." The photo the "Tití Me Preguntó" singer shared showed him in a white bunny costume with his face painted with whiskers. Although he was smiling in the image, on the inside, Bad Bunny was furious. "I was so mad. That was Easter day in the school and the teacher picked me to dress up," he explained.

Although he wasn't happy at the time, it inspired the future stage name that everyone would recognize him by. "The idea [of the name Bad Bunny] came to me when I wanted to start in this music thing, as I used a concept that nobody is going to use in the history of the genre," he shared with Urban Carpool (via LATV). "And it is something different. It is a character or a brand. The bad, or evil, rabbit, as people want to call it."

When picking the stage name Bad Bunny, it wasn't just because of his childhood photo. The "La Canción" singer revealed during "Carpool Karaoke" how he initially wanted to hide his identity with a mask similar to artists like Sia and Marshmello. "The first concept of the artist I wanted to be was like this kind of artist that they don't reveal his identity," he admitted. "I wanted to use a bunny mask ... I never wanted to be so famous, but then I just went with the flow." As for why he landed on Bad Bunny, it was really simple to the musician. He explained, "A bad bunny — no matter how bad, it's still looking cute. That's me. I'm a good guy. I'm cute." The stage name does seem to work for Bad Bunny because even though his behavior has been questionable in the past, people still love and adore him.

For example, in January 2023, Bad Bunny threw a fan's phone into the water after she got a little too close when asking for a photo, per TMZ. The musician has also caused quite the uproar for his relationship with Kendall Jenner, as fans have criticized him as a Latino for being with someone who has profited off of Latin culture. 

Still, Bad Bunny clearly made the right decision with his stage name because, despite his controversies, he remains a huge force in the entertainment industry.