Last year, fans were thrilled when YouTuber and beauty/fashion guru Nikita Dragun announced her Snapchat docuseries. The star has long been open with her fans about her life journey, and the story, of course, mostly centers on her transition.
Despite all of Dragun's success — her beauty brand, her YouTube and Instagram fame, being involved in James Charles' drama, and really, that business degree she earned — her life hasn't exactly been simple. The journey toward coming out as transgender, for example, took some time.
But now that Nikita is Nikita, fans want to know how she got there. So what's the story behind her name, which the star hand-picked?
Nikita has actually had a few different names. While she doesn't exactly advertise what she calls her "boy name," fans can probably track down old posts that reveal the deets. That's not really the story, though.
The story is how Nikita chose the name that she uses now, plus the other name she tried on for size while navigating college, coming out, and becoming a star.
YourTango explains that when she decided she'd skip going to NYU — despite a full scholarship — Nikita opted for a name change, too. That was around the time she started dressing as a woman (and posting on Instagram). She started attending business classes in Los Angeles, got a fake ID, and changed her name.
That first name change was to Nicole, a tame enough moniker for a girl in college. But that didn't last long. When she started her open and honest YouTube channel (well, six months in at least), things changed.
As Popbuzz pointed out, Dragun answered fan questions in a YouTube Q&A about procedures she's undergone, her experiences with dating, and other aspects of her daily life. Explaining her "real" name, Nikita revealed that her legal name is now Nikita Nguyen.
She legally changed her name to Nikita after feeling inspired by a show that she loved with the same name. As Dragun explained, she didn't want something "basic" or a moniker that was "very similar to my 'boy name'" either.
Her explanation was that the character — an Asian "assassin" girl — embodied everything she wanted to be. While that sounds a bit creepy on the surface, fans get that what Nikita means is that the name represents something to Nguyen, and the fact that she chose it herself has even more meaning.
TBH, though, Nikita Dragun sounds much more awesome than Nikita Nguyen — or Nicole Nguyen! As far as "Dragun," fans can assume that the name is both a play on the word "drag" as well as a twist on "dragon." Either way, Nikita's made it her own, and that's what matters.