Carmelo Anthony's Real Name: Carmelo Anthony

Quick answer: Carmelo Anthony is known in standard reference works as Carmelo Anthony. Encyclopaedia Britannica records that he was born May 29, 1984, in Brooklyn, New York, and became one of the most prolific scorers in National Basketball Association history (Encyclopaedia Britannica; Encyclopedia.com).

Real name and early life

This page uses the documented public name Carmelo Anthony. Encyclopedia.com says he was born to Carmelo Iriarte and Mary Anthony, the youngest of four children, and that his father died of liver failure when he was two. Britannica says he grew up in a high-crime neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, and that his mother later sent him to school in western Virginia. Encyclopedia.com names that school as Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, a basketball boarding school he entered after time at Towson Catholic High School in Baltimore. In 2002–03 he attended Syracuse University and led the basketball team to the NCAA championship, winning Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors, Encyclopedia.com records.

Career highlights

A forward, Anthony was selected third overall in 2003 by the Denver Nuggets, behind LeBron James and Darko Milicic, the same accounts note. In his rookie year he started all 82 regular-season games, Britannica says, and he later averaged 28.9 points in the 2006–07 season, becoming the second-youngest player in NBA history to score 5,000 points. He helped the Nuggets reach the 2008–09 Western Conference finals, then was traded to the New York Knicks in February 2011, where in 2012–13 he led the team to a strong Eastern Conference record and averaged 28.7 points. Later stops included the Oklahoma City Thunder, a brief turn with the Houston Rockets, two seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2021. He retired in 2023 after 19 NBA seasons, Britannica says, with career averages of 22.5 points and 2.7 assists per game. Britannica also records that he won a bronze medal with the 2004 U.S. men's Olympic team and gold medals in 2008, 2012, and 2016, becoming the most decorated U.S. male Olympic basketball player on that basis. Encyclopedia.com emphasizes the Syracuse title and the immediate impact he had in turning a weak Nuggets team into a playoff club.

Name notes for searchers

Carmelo Anthony is the documented public name. Searchers looking for the Syracuse star, a longtime NBA forward, or a four-time U.S. Olympian in basketball are usually aiming at the same person.