FRISCO, Texas — His full name is Nkosi Tafari Burgess.
You won't see Burgess on this jersey, though, but rather Tafari.
Why?
The FC Dallas defender does it to honor his African heritage. The name "Tafari" is of Ethiopian descent. His mother gave him the name "Nkosi," which is in the national anthem of South Africa and means ruler or king, and "Tafari" in unison with his first name, which means “he who inspires awe” in Amharic (official language of Ethiopia), or “Tough are I” in the Caribbean.
In a piece published in August 2021, Tafari wrote about how he did a school assignment in seventh grade to look up the meaning of their names. He learned his father's last name, Burgess, is of English and Scottish descent and means “freeman of a town,” ironically, as it was passed down from master to slave.
"When I did a little more research, I figured out why my father’s family has that name, and it’s something I’m not entirely proud of," Tafari wrote.
On the final day of Black History Month, Tafari sat down with FC Dallas Digital Content Manager Garrett Melcer to talk about his decision to wear the Tafari name on the back of his jersey.
"I didn't want to go with my first name on the back of the jersey ... it would have had strength and power, but I don't know. It felt like it was finally time to go with Tafari," he said. "I'm definitely glad I did it. It goes hard on the back of the jersey."
Tafari fixated on the word "awe" when it comes to the meaning of his middle name.
"Awe isn't typically used too often in everyday language... so to inspire awe is an incredibly beautiful thing," Tafari said. "The name change itself, and my whole process... is definitely history. I know that somewhere there is a Black kid below the age 15 or 12 that has looked up to me at least once. I know because I've seen them at the games."
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