Travis Kelce continues to make news practically daily both on and off the football field, as his Kansas City Chiefs are one win away from their third consecutive Super Bowl and with Swifties everywhere on engagement watch a year and a half into his relationship with Taylor Swift. Meanwhile, Jason Kelce has turned to broadcasting post-retirement, and he shared a hilarious story about his brother telling people his name his name was “Charles,” after Charles Barkley, when he was a kid. Well, in a strange twist, it turns out that the NBA great had wanted to be called “Travis.” Let’s break down this wild coincidence.
As A Child, Travis Kelce Told People His Name Was ‘Charles’
Travis Kelce is just the gift that keeps on giving, and fans sure are lucky he has a brother who keeps popping up on the 2025 TV schedule with fun stories from their childhood. The New Heights’ Twitter account posted a clip of Jason talking about his brother on ESPN’s Postseason NFL Countdown ahead of the Chiefs’ January 18 playoff game against the Texans (which Kansas City won), where he said of Travis:
He was the crazy guy… He also told the entire block his name was Charles because his favorite basketball player was Charles Barkley. We found out at a block party because all the other parents were like, ‘There goes Charles.’ That’s the kind of kid Travis was. He was always living up to all of his sports idols, for sure.
I can only imagine their mom Donna Kelce’s reaction to hearing the other neighborhood parents make comments about “Charles,” and it’s actually so cute that Travis wanted to honor his basketball idol in that way. Also, it’s not like he was asking people to call him “The Round Mound of Rebound” or even “Sir Charles,” as the two-time Olympic gold medalist did.
That’s not where the story ends, either, as it turns out the Inside the NBA anchor used to covet Travis Kelce’s name.
Charles Barkley Asked To Change His Name To ‘Travis’
They say don’t meet your heroes, but thank goodness Travis Kelce did eventually get to hang out with Charles Barkley, because otherwise we’d never know about this fun name game they’ve got going on. On a June 2023 episode of New Heights, the Kelce brothers relayed the story of Travis' childhood nickname of sorts, and the NBA player added a twist with his own memory, saying:
What was really funny, the best player at my high school was a guy named Travis Abernathy, and he was great from, like, junior high. So everybody loved Travis. But I was named after my grandfather. When I started getting better at basketball, I said, ‘Mom, what do we think about me changing my name to Travis?’ She says, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ ‘Charles ain’t gonna get it done.’ She says, ‘That’s your grandfather’s name.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, and he’s a nobody! That’s a perfect example.’
Oh my Lord, poor grandpa catching strays! That is absolutely too much, with Charles Barkley telling his mom that his grandfather was the perfect example of why “Charles ain’t gonna get it done.” To this day Barkley has a fondness for the moniker, as he continued:
I love the name Travis. It's just like, you got to be able to play some, if your name Travis.
That’s got to be a pretty amazing thing for Travis Kelce to hear, and he’s no doubt hoping to prove Charles Barkley’s words true, as he prepares to take the field against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday, January 26, on CBS and streaming with a Paramount+ subscription.
