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Grammy Winning Star Says Dad Gave Him Name Because "He Looked Like Ground Chuck"

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For those familiar with the ’70’s sitcom “All in the Family,” Archie’s nickname for son-in-law Mike Stivic made perfect sense from Archie’s perspective.

Stivic was a “meathead,” or in other words, someone who wasn’t always very intelligent.

Meanwhile, for decades, singer Michael (born as Marvin) Lee Aday has been known, not by his given name, but by the harder-to-understand name of “Meat Loaf.”

What could the meaning be behind such a name? The story behind it has always been a curiosity.



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But according to Little Things, the singer shared with Oprah in 2016 that the “Meat Loaf” moniker had been part of his life since he was only four days old. It was given to him by his father.

Parents are often come up with pet names for their children, but “Meat Loaf?” During his appearance on “Oprah: Where Are They Now?,” he explained how it came to be.

Aday said that originally, his father had nicknamed him “Meat.” This was due to the fact that when he was born he was “bright red.”

After the doctor suggested the newborn Aday stay in the hospital a few days, “his dad jokingly said that his son looked like “nine and a half pounds of ground chuck.” He even got a name card that said Meat on it!

But that obviously wasn’t the end of the nickname evolution.

Later, in eighth grade, when Aday accidentally stepped on a coach, he was told, with a yell, “Get off my foot, you hunk of meat loaf!” Kids being kids, the new variation of his nickname stuck and he even adopted it as his stage name for his musical career.



Anyone who has followed the iconic singer’s career would know that that is just one of a variety of stories that have been told about the “Meat Loaf” name origin.

In fact, according to the Huffington Post, at least some of the false stories were made up by “Meat Loaf” himself!

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But according to the then-69-year-old music legend, the story he told to Oprah was the real story. So now the bets can be settled and the guessing can end.



Although some early stars were told to change their name to make themselves more appealing to an audience, the “Meat Loaf” moniker has never impeded Aday’s success.

The talented man is not only a singer, songwriter, and musician, but he’s gone on to add other things to his portfolio, including acting.

He was perhaps most famously known for his role in the “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” as “Eddie,” but, among other things, he was also featured on “The Celebrity Apprentice” in 2011, when now-President Donald Trump was the host.

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