RM (RM) Real Name: Kim Nam-joon (김남준) — 본명

Quick answer

RM's real name is Kim Nam-joon (Korean: 김남준). Born September 12, 1994, he is the leader of BTS and first performed under the name Rap Monster.

Real name and stage name

RM is the stage name of Kim Nam-joon (김남준), the leader of BTS. He first became known as Rap Monster and later went by the shorter initials RM. Before joining Big Hit, he used another name, Runch Randa, as a teenager in Korea's underground hip-hop scene.

Kim Nam-joon was born in Seoul on September 12, 1994, and raised in Ilsan. He joined Big Hit Entertainment in 2010 and debuted as part of BTS in June 2013. As leader he became the group's main English-speaking spokesperson and one of its most prolific songwriters.

His solo work started with mixtapes. RM released his first mixtape, RM, in 2015, followed by Mono in 2018. Mono peaked at number 26 on the Billboard 200, then the highest-charting album by a Korean solo artist in the US.

He made his official solo debut in 2022 with the studio album Indigo, which featured artists including Erykah Badu and Anderson .Paak. It reached number three on the Billboard 200, setting a new high for a Korean solo artist. In 2024 he moved toward alternative music on his second album, Right Place, Wrong Person.

RM is known for his interest in art and literature and for his role as BTS's voice in interviews and public speeches. Fans and media still sometimes use his old name, Rap Monster, when discussing early BTS releases.

In short, RM's real name is Kim Nam-joon. "RM" started as an abbreviation of Rap Monster and became his main stage name.