Jake Zyrus thinking of changing legal name to 'Charles'—here's why

Jake Zyrus clarified he has yet to change his legal name from "Charice" as he shared why he's considering using "Charles" instead.

In a new YouTube vlog, the singer said, “Jake Zyrus is only my screen name. I have not changed my legal name just yet."

He then revealed the name he's looking to use when he becomes certain about changing his name in official records.

"Pero kung babaguhin ko siya, I kinda like Charles because it’s closer to my original name, Charice and Charmaine," he explained. “So I kinda like that, Charles, and then maybe put Jake in the second name. For how many years, I’m kinda set with the first name Charles." 

Jake added that he will keep his last name Pempengco.

The Pinoy star identified as a lesbian in 2013 during an exclusive interview on the now-defunct entertainment talk show The Buzz. In 2017, he came out as a trans man and introduced himself as Jake Zyrus after having male chest reconstruction and beginning testosterone treatment.

In a July 2022 interview with GQ, the singer opened up about knowing he was "born in the wrong body" and finally coming to terms with himself.

While he already felt he was “born in the wrong body” at the time he rose to fame as Charice, he still didn’t know much about transgender people or what it really meant. He only started becoming more aware of it at 20 years old, when someone detailed American actor Chaz Bono’s journey as a trans man to him. “After doing my research on him, it was an ‘aha’ moment for me. I realized that I was trans, too.”