Lil Nas X Reveals How He Got His Real Name Montero

Lil Nas X is revealing the origin of his name.

While promoting his new children’s book C Is for Country on “The Tonight Show” on Friday (Jan. 8), the “Holiday” rapper shared that his real name, Montero, was inspired by his mother’s favorite car, a Mitsubishi Montero.

“It’s slightly embarrassing, but I’m not embarrassed,” Nas told Jimmy Fallon while recounting the story. “My mom wanted the car, the Montero, and she never got one… So yeah, I’m named after a car.”

Joked Nas, “She was like, ‘I’ll settle for less.’”

However, he decided not use his birth name as his stage name. “Nas was like my internet alias and then when I started doing music, I was like, ‘I want to have fun with this,’” he explained. “And every new rapper’s named Lil, Lil, Lil. ‘What if I was Lil Nas? Ha ha ha. That’d be funny.’ So I was like, ‘Alright, bet. I’ll be Lil Nas.’ And I added the X later on.”

Nas’ “Old Town Road” with Billy Ray Cyrus holds the record for longest-running No. 1 song in Billboard history. The Grammy-winning hit was recently certified 14x platinum, becoming the most certified song in music history.

After releasing his single “Holiday” in November, he is now focused on his new album, which he’s been working on for the past two years. “It’s all about sex and nothing else,” he joked before adding, “It’s about all the things I’ve been experiencing like pre-fame and after and what I expect to be experiencing. It’s just a great album overall.”