High school athlete Noah Knigga has finally explained how to pronounce his last name, and it's not what people thought it was when he first went viral.
On Sunday, the athlete and his family sat down for an interview with Robert Griffin III where viewers got to know the Kniggas a bit more. The former football player made a joke asking if the family has been to Paris, France, referencing Jay-Z and Kanye West's 2011 track "N***as In Paris." In their conversation, RGIII asked how to properly say their last name, and the family stated it's pronounced "Kih-nay-guh" instead of how it sounds phonetically like everyone on social media has been saying.
RGIII understood the pronunciation and said the family should release t-shirts with the slogan "KNIGGA PLEASE," which he felt would do numbers thanks to how people thought the last name was pronounced. Noah's father also revealed that the family hasn't gotten any slack from people based on their last name.
Knigga went viral last week when he announced he would be visiting West Virginia University in a tweet that went viral on X, formerly Twitter. RGIII retweeted the post with a caption that read, "That Naysayer built the arc," and it didn't take long for more people to pay attention to the high school student.
Pat McAfee spoke about him on his show and his prospects in college football while also joking about his last name, saying he should join other sports so other announcers could say his last name.
Knigga is a two-sport athlete in basketball and football at Lawrenceburg High School in Indiana. He's an All-State outside linebacker and tight end who put up 207 tackles, including 42 tackles for loss and 14 sacks, and on offense, grabbed 20 receptions and ran for 224 yards in three seasons.
He also plays small forward on the varsity basketball team at Lawrenceburg. In the 2023-24 season, Knigga is averaging eight points, four rebounds, and two assists a game and was crowned MVP of the Rivertown Classic Basketball Tournament last weekend, right after his twin sister Natalie was named MVP of the girl's tournament.
Check out some social media reactions to Noah Knigga's name below.
