In the realm of names, what we call a rose by another name does not alter its sweet scent. However, Kim Kardashian, the star of the ubiquitous reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians, had a different perspective before her family's namesake TV series debuted in October 2007. She made a decision to change her name for a compelling reason. "I used to go by Kimberly until we signed on to do the reality show," Kim shared with Time in an article on December 4th. "When I saw my chyron read 'Kimberly Kardashian,' I thought, 'That's too long for people to say.' So let's just shorten it to Kim.'"
While the 45-year-old is now internationally recognized by her abbreviated moniker, it still strikes her as peculiar. "It's so weird," she continued, "because all my friends from high school and growing up, and my dad, everyone calls me Kimberly."
Despite this, Kim has not shied away from her shorter name. In fact, she celebrated the holiday season with her SKIMS shapewear brand—whose name references her own nickname—in a December 4th livestream alongside Snoop Dogg and her mother Kris Jenner, an event they dubbed "Kimsmas."
Before the $5 billion shapewear brand was named SKIMS, Kim—mother to children North West (12), Saint West (10), Chicago West (7), and Psalm West (6) with ex-husband Kanye West—initially considered a different pun, naming the company Kimono. But after the Japanese government and other critics weighed in, she made a pivot, marking another name change she saw as a positive. "You can really feel the noise," she shared about knowing when to listen to critics. "You can hear when it's so loud. For Kimono, I thought, I have such respect for that culture, and I wouldn't want someone to think that I was misusing or appropriating it, so let's change it."
