“I am no more Joseph Agbeko,” he said in a yet-to-be-televised Prime Take interview on JoyNews.

Agbeko, who held the IBF bantamweight title twice between 2007 and 2011, believes the name and brand Joseph Agbeko impacted society and that should be ‘treated as a legacy.’

“I think the brand Joseph Agbeko has done it all,” he explained.

“As a fighter, I gave my all to make my people happy and proud so I want Joseph Agbeko to be treated as my legacy and I want to live to see the legacy of Joseph King Kong Agbeko.

“But, from now onwards, I will like to tell the general public to address me by the name, Togbe Kalitor II, I am no more Joseph Agbeko,” the 2007 world champion stated.

“Togbe Kalitor II is my title and that is the new me,” he added.

Agbeko dethroned Luis Alberto Perez to become the new IBF bantamweight titleholder in 2007, before defending it in December 2008.

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He also held the Commonwealth bantamweight title from 2004 to 2006; the IBO bantamweight title in 2013; and challenged once for a super bantamweight world title against Abner Marez in 2013.

Prime Take airs on the JoyNews Channel every Friday at 7:10 am and Sundays at 9 PM.

Several international bodies will be asked to make the name change as part of a rebranding campaign launched by the Turkish president late last year.

“Türkiye is the best representation and expression of the Turkish people’s culture, civilization, and values,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in December.

The UN says it made the change as soon as it received the request this week.

Most Turks already know their country as Türkiye. However the anglicised form Turkey is widely used, even within the country.

State broadcaster TRT was quick to make the change as soon as it was announced last year, explaining that among the reasons for the image rebrand was the association with the bird traditionally associated with Christmas, New Year or Thanksgiving.

It also pointed out the Cambridge English Dictionary’s definition of one of the meanings of the word as “something that fails badly” or “a stupid or silly person”.

As part of the re-branding, “Made in Türkiye” will feature on all exported products, and in January a tourism campaign was launched with the catch-phrase “Hello Türkiye”.

The move has been met with a mixed reaction online. While government officials support it, others say it is an ineffective distraction as the president gears up for elections next year, amid an economic crisis.

It is not uncommon for countries to change their names.

In 2020, The Netherlands dropped Holland in a rebranding move. And before that, Macedonia changed its name to North Macedonia due to a political dispute with Greece, and Swaziland became Eswatini in 2018.

Further back in history, Iran used to be called Persia, Siam is now Thailand, and Rhodesia was changed to Zimbabwe.

A name shared with a bird

Onur Erem, BBC Turkish service

The Ü may be tricky for most of the international audience who don’t have that letter in their alphabet but it’s the same as the German Ü, like the U in pure or cue. So for an English-speaker, changing the first vowel of Turkey to a Ü and adding an E to the end (as in pet) is enough to pronounce the new name perfectly.

But why was this necessary? President Erdogan was pushing for this move for years, arguing that the country would be better represented with the Turkish name instead of sharing the same word with a bird.

Turkey the bird is called by a different name in many languages, such as “peru” in Portuguese, while in Turkish it is “hindi”.

Many social media users refer to this fact to criticise the Turkish government’s move as absurd, while others agree that it was a necessary rebranding.

We have to wait and see if people around the world will accept Türkiye instead of Turkey, Turquie or Twrci.

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Trigmatic said he chose his name out of the blue during an interview session, an action he now considers to be impromptu.

Speaking on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM on Tuesday, November 5, 2019, the rapper urged emerging artistes to be mindful of the names they choose to represent their brand.

“I had to keep the name ‘Trigmatic’ after I said it in an interview. I was an underground artiste then. Your name is you and you are your name. It differentiates you from the next person. Sometimes we just pick names anyhow.

“I took mine for granted. If I knew what I know now I would probably change it. I am discussing that with my management. Samini saw the future and Edem too so they changed theirs. I wish I could go for that kind of name to represent who I was,” Trigmatic said.

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The only musician whose name truly represents his craft is Ghanaian rapper, Ahkan, Trigmatic added in the interview with Andy Dosty.

He urged fellow artistes to consider how the names they choose will be pronounced, how kids will call you and what it means in another country, among other factors.