John Foster posing in a cowboy hat

Season 23 “American Idol” runner-up John Foster recently opened up about his real name and why he doesn’t use it professionally. Foster is actually the country singer’s middle name and his last name is Benoit.

During an interview on the “Fable House” podcast, Foster shared the origins of his last name, which he said he loves. “I’m from Louisiana, have a lot of Cajun heritage, a lot of French heritage,” he explained. “That’s something I’ve always been very proud of…I’ve always loved the idea of Benoit being, you know, French, being a testament to my heritage.”

Foster also explained what his last name means. “…Benoit is a rough translation to ‘blessed’ in English, so I always really loved that,” he said.

Why John Foster Doesn’t Use His Last Name

According to Foster, he has several good reasons for not performing under his full name. For one, he felt that his French last name didn’t quite fit with his genre of music. “When I was getting into country music, it was like, man, I don’t think I could go by John Foster Benoit,” he said. “That’s just not a really country name, you know?

But it wasn’t just that Benoit didn’t sound quite right to the singer. It turns out that he was born John Foster Benoit III, after his father and his grandfather. In order to eliminate confusion, all three men went by different nicknames. “…my dad was called Buddy, my grandpa was called John or Johnny,” Foster shared.

His family was thinking of possible names he could go by, suggesting the name Trey, but then his grandmother had a better idea. “My maternal grandmother said, ‘well, why don’t y’all just call him John Foster as his first name?” Foster revealed.

Why ‘John Foster’ Works Well as a Stage Name

Foster went on to say that the moniker stuck, and that it has always been used as his first name. “Like any kind of double name with a hyphen…I just never really had an authentic hyphen,” he explained. “My middle name is still Foster, but I always just went by John Foster.”

When Foster got into the music scene, he’d introduce himself on stage with the name he’d always gone by. And he seemed to like the idea of his de facto first name being his stage name as well.

“So, I think about it as a mononym,” Foster said. “Like Adele or Prince…or Beyoncé…”