What is RM's real name?
Emily Cortez
Updated on January 04, 2026
Kim Nam-joon, known professionally as RM, is a South Korean rapper, songwriter and record producer. He is the leader of the South Korean boy group BTS. RM released his first solo mixtape, RM, in 2015.
Why did RM change his name?
RM has described himself as having a love-hate relationship with the name, feeling that it was not selected for being of "incredible value" to him. He formally changed his stage name to "RM" in November 2017, as he determined that "Rap Monster" was no longer representative of who he was or the music that he creates.What does RM's name stand for?
Kim Nam-joon (김남준), better known by his stage name RM (short for Real Me, formerly known as Rap Monster (랩몬스터) and Runch Randa), is a South Korean rapper-songwriter and record producer under Big Hit Music.Did RM change his name to real me?
During one interview with Entertainment Tonight Online, RM explained that this new stage name “could symbolize many things” and that's why he liked it. At the time, he explained that it stood for “real me.” Since then, fans learned to adopt this new meaning to the stage name, using “RM” when referring to the artist.What was RM's Predebut name?
— PREDEBUT —Before debuting, Kim Namjoon was part of the underground hip hop scene and was known as Runch Randa. He was also part of an underground hip hop crew called DaeNamHyup (대남렵/DNH), formed in 2009. Below is a list of just a few of RM's pre-debut releases: Rap Monster.