Former running back for the Miami Dolphins Ricky Williams legally changed his last name to Miron, adopting his wife’s last name, according to People.
Ricky shared the news during an interview on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz podcast.
“I did it probably a year and a half ago, made it official,” Miron said on the podcast. “Something I’ve been thinking about and talking about, and I finally went through the steps.”
Miron, whose NFL career came to an end in 2011, explained that he wanted to create marital balance, according to HuffPost.
“I’ve found that that’s been really powerful in creating ease and intimacy and trust in my relationship,” Miron said on the show.
Miron said his celebrity status often outshines his wife, adding, “People kind of forget that she exists, so there’s an imbalance in our relationship.”
“One of the ideas that popped into my mind was I can take her last name,” Ricky said. “I think it’s cool. It’s somewhere where we can both win.”
His wife, Linnea Miron, practiced law and co-owns an herbal supplement business with her husband.
Ricky, a Texas Longhorns 1998 Heisman Trophy winner, also said that Williams is not his actual last name, explaining that the man who married his paternal grandmother was not his dad’s birth father, according to HuffPost.
“It’s one of those family secrets,” he said, according to People. “My grandma, obviously, back then you don’t say anything. And so Williams was her husband’s name, but wasn’t my dad’s father.”
Brides.com reports that 3% of men take on their wives’ last names.
