Deion Sanders reveals his first name is spelled differently on birth certificate

by: Alex Byington 5 minutes ago _AlexByington

Deion Sanders has had a lot of names throughout his legendary career. From “Prime Time” to just “Prime” to now “Coach Prime,” the 58-year-old Sanders has gone by a multitude of monkiers.

But there’s one name he’s not used since he first learned to spell — Dion, which is how his first name was originally spelled on his birth certificate, according to Sanders. The third-year Colorado head coach revealed the previously untold story of his original name change, and the children’s nursery rhyme that sparked it, during a recent appearance on the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce .

“Where are you getting this stuff from? That is true. That’s true,” Sanders said, surprised by the Kelces’ crackpot research. “But let me tell you what I did. You know (when we were) kids going to school learning how to spell, and we all learned the song – if I say the first part, you’ve got to finish the second part. ‘Old McDonald had a farm, …’”

“E-I-E-I-O,” Travis Kelce answered in a sing-songy manner.

“E-I-O. So, it was D-E-I-O-N. I got it from Old McDonald,” Sanders said. “That’s the way I spell it. On my birth certificate it’s D-I-O-N, but I’ve always spelled it D-E-I-O-N.”

Of course, we’ll just have to take Sanders’ word for it. But given the number of children named “Deion” since “Prime” first made it popular as an electric two-sport star in the early 1990s, it’s an interesting backstory that only further exemplifies Sanders’ lifelong desire to write — and rewrite — his own story.

“You know how bad you have to be that you just change your name and people go along with it?” Jason Kelce asked.

Sanders added: “That was a good one, because there ain’t too many people that know that. That’s real.”

Deion Sanders reflects on playing for Cowboys, calls Jerry Jones the best owner in football history

Sanders reflected on his time in Dallas while making an appearance on  New Heights , hosted by  Jason Kelce  and  Travis Kelce . There, he broke down what made his time there so special, outside of all the winning, and just how important  Jerry Jones  has been during his time there.

“Unbelievable,” Deion Sanders said. “Unbelievable. I was just going through a personal hell at the time. I left San Fran. You know, I need the challenges in my life. Like, ‘Okay, let me go to San Fran. Oh, we beat the Cowboys. Oh, boom, Jerry Jones wants me to go there. Let me go there and see if we can beat San Fran.’ It’s like I needed challenges in my life. We had a bunch of Florida boys that played for the Cowboys at the time. I said, ‘How is it, man?’ Because I ain’t got no time for jealousy. I ain’t got no time for this. I’ve been in some locker rooms with bull junk. I ain’t got time for that. Mike said, ‘We good over here. We Florida boys over here.’ Emmitt, Mike, Big Nate. You know? Okay, so it was unbelievable, man.”

Coming out of Florida State, Deion Sanders was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. He’d spend time as a two-sport athlete within the city, also playing baseball for the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, and San Francisco Giants at times during his career. He’d become the only professional athlete to play in both the Super Bowl and the World Series in the process. After Atlanta, he played one season in San Francisco before landing in Dallas.

“Jerry Jones will go down and should go down in history as arguably the best owner that ever owned a football franchise because you hear media talk about Jerry. You’ve never heard a player talk about Jerry Jones in a negative fashion because he is unbelievable. I had the luxury to play for Eddie DeBartolo, who was unbelievable,” Sanders said. “Some other ones, Steve Bisciotti later on in life, but let me tell you something, man. The Cowboys, you’re talking about America’s team, and when you travel and when you go places, it’s probably like it is, right now, it’s probably the same way as you were with Philly at the end. Philly fans are crazy. They’ll kill you, shank you. It was unbelievable, man. It really was. It was an experience — we were too young and dumb to really know the level of it.”

— On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report.

You may also like

Exciting news hit the cycle for Colorado on Friday. The program announced that its latest live mascot, Ralphie VII, will debut on Saturday ahead of…

Since Dabo Swinney took over at Clemson in 2008, he has used the underdog mentality to motivate his team. Colorado head coach Deion Sanders is hoping…

Colorado has been rotating through quarterbacks during the first three weeks of their season. Now, going into week four, the Buffaloes are going back…

Colorado coach Deion Sanders shared what he’s looking for from quarterback Kaidon Salter amid the adversity the team is facing….

Toward the end of the first half between Colorado and Houston, Ryan Staub rattled off a 19-yard scramble and appeared to get to the end zone….

Colorado’s coaching staff had a little extra help ahead of the Buffaloes’ showdown against Houston on Friday evening. During the pregame warmups,…

Heading into Colorado‘s 2025 season, the conversation around the quarterback position involved Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter and incoming four-star…

Colorado could be undergoing a rare early-season change at quarterback ahead of Friday’s Big 12 opener at Houston (7:30 pm ET, ESPN) with the…

Heading into Colorado‘s 2025 season, the conversation around the quarterback position involved Liberty transfer Kaidon…

Seemingly out of nowhere, Colorado has a quarterback competition on its hands. Head coach Deion Sanders put Ryan Staub into this past Saturday’s game…

Deion Sanders provided the latest injury updates on Dallan Hayden and Omarion Miller as Colorado looks to get the playmakers healthy again….

Heading into Colorado’s 2025 season, the conversation around the quarterback position involved Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter and incoming four-star…

Two games into his third season in Boulder, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders is already calling an audible at quarterback. Earlier Tuesday, ESPN…

There was extensive talk this offseason about who would replace Shedeur Sanders as the starting quarterback at Colorado. Initially, that appeared to…

Colorado WR Omarion Miller will not play on Saturday for the Buffaloes against Delaware, per Brian Howell. Miller injured his hamstring last week…

Deion Sanders let out an audible “Oh Lord” followed by a deep sigh as the third-year Colorado head coach began his postgame press conference…

Year three of the Coach Prime era at Colorado kicked off with a disappointing 27-20 loss to Georgia Tech last Friday night. It marked the first…

In July, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders revealed he’d undergone a procedure to have a cancerous tumor in his bladder removed. After Colorado’s…

Deion Sanders and Colorado’s coaching staff took some criticism after week one with its opening loss to Georgia Tech. That said, Coach Prime says all…

Coming into the season, head coach Deion Sanders was confident that he had the best team he’s had in his three years with the Colorado Buffaloes. A…

Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders had a particularly difficult offseason after undergoing surgery to remove his bladder following a stunning…

For the second time in three years, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders started a season with a loss. Georgia Tech flew all the way to Boulder and…

After they’d hoped to have him play in their opener at some point, Colorado QB Julian Lewis, the former four-star recruit and top-ten quarterback in…

Deion Sanders is expecting big things out of Omarion Miller in 2025. However, the wide receiver suffered an injury to his hamstring during Colorado’s…

Who could break out for Colorado this season?…

About On3 AboutAdvertisersCareersContact

Support Customer ServicePrivacy PolicyChildren’s Privacy PolicyTerms of Service

On3 Connect TwitterFacebookInstagram

The On3 App for college sports fans:

© 2025 On3 Media, Inc. All rights reserved. On3 is a registered trademark of On3 Media, Inc.

Read More