During his introductory press conference Friday after signing with the New Orleans Saints during 2026 NFL free agency, Travis Etienne took some time to set the record straight on the pronunciation of his last name.

The former Clemson star running back clarified how his name should be pronounced.

Etienne told reporters that his last name is pronounced “Achane” – like Miami Dolphins running back De’Von Achane.

Etienne says that is the way his name was pronounced growing up in Jennings, Louisiana. However, after enrolling at Clemson in 2017, he accepted “ETN” as the other way of pronouncing his name when his coaches “couldn’t get it” right saying it the proper way.

“Growing up, it [was] Travis [Achane]. A-C-H-A-N-E. That’s how they always said it, Travis [Achane],” Etienne said Friday. “But when I went to college, I kept telling them my name, like, every day, every day, every day. After like four weeks, they just couldn’t get it. So I’m like, ‘Man, it’s [ETN]. How you see it is how you say it.’ That’s how that became, and it kind of just took off because it was easier for the announcers to say it, I didn’t have to correct them every day [how] to say my name. Just when I kind of started learning more about my last name and how it came about and things like that, it just kind of stuck and made sense.”

After five years with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Etienne — Clemson’s and the ACC’s all-time leading rusher — left Jacksonville to return home to his native of Louisiana on a four-year, $52 million deal with the Saints.

Now that he’s back home, Etienne says he’s “very much open to being Travis [Achane] again.”

“Just being myself,” Etienne said. “I don’t have to correct people here on how to say my name each and every day. And I kind of love that. Just getting back to me.”