A look back at when Kylian Mbappe was known as Mbappe Lottin and the mystery behind his name change

Kylian Mbappe has been the best player at the 2022 World Cup so far and England are in his sights next.

The Paris Saint-Germain superstar has already scored five goals for France and is in the form of his life as Les Bleus prepare to face the Three Lions in the quarter-finals this weekend.

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The 23-year-old was one of the stars in Russia when Didier Deschamps’ men became world champions, and he has an ‘obsession’ with FIFA’s premier event.

But the striker wasn’t always known as Mbappe, and his official birth name is Mbappe Lottin, but why he changed that remains unclear.

The mystery behind Mbappe’s name change

Back when Mbappe was about to make his breakthrough at Monaco, the striker used both of his surnames.

The striker made his first-team debut aged just 16 in 2015.

And his second game and Europa League debut came eight days later as Monaco were beaten 4-1 by Tottenham.

But if you look at the team sheet for this match, you will see that Mbappe is called Mbappe Lottin.

He was still called Mbappe Lottin during his last season with Monaco.

But by the time he joined PSG, Mbappe Lottin was no more and he was simply known as Mbappe.

The real reason he and the rest of the family dropped the name is unclear.

His father was once known as Mbappe Lottin but is now called Mbappe, and his younger brother Ethan is the same.

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Lottin is a very common middle name in Cameroon, where Mbappe’s father was born.

Mbappe could have represented Cameroon at international level but soon decided to choose France and has insisted in the past that no one from the Cameroonian FA had ever approached him.

So the name drop could be related to that, or it could be because Mbappe is more marketable and easier for shirt sales and endorsement deals.

He certainly comes off the tongue better than Mbappe Lottin.