Chris Stussy is now Chris Stassy.
The Dutch house star formally announced the change to his artist name on Instagram today, swapping the “u” in his moniker for an “a.”
“One letter, same mind, same music, same vibe,” the artist—born Niels Christian Steenbergen—shared in a photo posted to Instagram today. “Thank U for everything, A new chapter in my life.”
In the comments section of the same post, he confirmed the new name will be pronounced the same as the former, and that the names of his Up The Stuss label and USS party series will remain unchanged. He’s already updated his moniker on social media platforms.
The artist did not offer an explanation for the change. However, the surname Stussy was notably similar to that of the popular streetwear brand Stüssy, founded by California designer Shawn Stussy in the early 1980s.
When fans in the comments asked why he didn’t opt for other new spellings, such as “stuss” or “stxss,” he responded that those options weren’t “necessarily possible.”
The original name Chris Stussy was born as an adaptation of the artist’s given name, combined with the Dutch phrase for Jesus Christ, “Jezus Christus.” Chris was taken from his middle name, Christian, while the “St” was taken from his last name, Steenbergen. The two were brought together to form “Chris Stussy” when a friend joked that the Dutch pronunciation would sound like “Jezus Christus-y,” the artist explained in an interview on Josh Baker’s podcast last year.
Check out the name change announcement in the post below.
Featured image courtesy: Chris Stassy.