Taylor and Travis — the names on America’s lips.
As the frenzy over Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship has intensified — perhaps peaking this month as Swift won Grammy awards, announced a new album and resumed her Eras tour, while Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl — the five-syllable rhythm of “Taylor and Travis” has become nearly inescapable.
For people named Taylor, sharing a moniker with a global superstar is nothing new. Those named Travis are being inaugurated into a strange experience, as The Washington Post’s Travis M. Andrews wrote.
And couples named Taylor and Travis? Travis and Taylor? Tayvis, if you will (or the less-successful Traylor)? The Tays and Travs who have already found love with each other? What’s this been like for them?
The Washington Post tracked down several Taylor-and-Travises to find out. (As for the couples out there named Taylor and Joe, we’re sorry.)
In their newlywed era
Taylor and Travis King, Denver
As Swift played her concert in Denver this summer, there was a Taylor-and-Travis in the crowd.
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The Kings saw the Eras Tour on July 14 — the week after Swift’s Kansas City stop, where Kelce allegedly tried and failed to give Swift a friendship bracelet with his number on it — and Taylor King logged her third time seeing Swift live.
The 30-year-old has loved Swift’s music since high school, and she’s dressed up as the other Taylor for Halloween five times. When she married a Travis in 2022, she had no idea it would one day give her another connection to the singer.
“Everyone knows that I’m a big Taylor Swift fan,” Taylor King said, “so it’s funny that I’m now married to a Travis and she’s dating a Travis.”
Her Travis has become a fan, too — somewhat, at least. He said he respected Swift’s songwriting and was “blown away” by the spectacle of the Eras Tour.
“I’ve been to a ton of shows in my life, and that one, just like the energy from the fans and how into it her fan base was … it was impressive, I can’t lie,” Travis, 31, said.
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The Kings, who met on Hinge six years ago and are expecting their first child in July, are also avid football fans. Disappointed by the Baltimore Ravens’ loss to Kelce’s Chiefs, Travis supported the 49ers in the Super Bowl. His wife admitted she didn’t really care who won but wanted to see Swift.
They’re happy for the stars — but mainly, Taylor just wants Swift to find lasting love.
“As a Taylor Swift fan, obviously you hope that she’s happy,” she said. “If they break up, it’ll be a really good album, but if they stay together, it’ll be a good album, too.”
Rooting for the Travises
Taylor Adams and Travis Reichenbach, Berkley, Mich.
Travis Reichenbach asked Taylor Adams to marry him on Sept. 22, at the summit of Mount LeConte in Tennessee. Two days later, Swift showed up to her first Chiefs game, effectively announcing to the world that she was seeing Kelce.
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Quickly, the names caused some confusion among friends of Adams and Reichenbach’s who were discussing “Taylor and Travis” and didn’t realize they were each talking about different couples.
“We’ve gotten confused a couple times, even just within our friend group,” Adams laughed.
Adams, 27, doesn’t identify as a Swiftie, but the couples’ similarities have left her hoping the stars’ relationship works out: “I am definitely rooting for them, just because of our names,” she said. “And … they started dating right when we got engaged, so it would be kind of cool if they stay together.”
Adams, a cardiac sonographer, and Reichenbach, a seat belt validation engineer, began dating in August 2022 — after Reichenbach’s brother and sister-in-law spent nearly nine years trying to set the pair up. It finally worked, and they’ll be married this fall.
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They’re dedicated football fans, and Reichenbach has casually followed Kelce’s career for the past few years. Though he noted he’s “kind of sick of the Chiefs,” he said Kelce’s current life status was “a win” for Travises everywhere.
Share this articleShare“Having a name that’s not extremely common like Travis, you kind of root for them when you find a Travis,” said Reichenbach, 26. “In different sports, it’s like, ‘Oh, I kind of hope they do better than everyone else.’”
Though the couple admits to occasionally finding Swift’s presence annoying during the NFL season, they said that complaints about her being shown during the games are overblown and that they have enjoyed watching it bring more people to football. They weren’t surprised at the attention the stars’ relationship garnered.
“Travis Kelce has always been pretty personable and a character that people like in the NFL, and then, it’s Taylor Swift, so,” Reichenbach said. “The fact that they’re together is kind of interesting — that two people at the top of their respective careers are together.”
‘The original TNT’
Taylor and Travis Johnson, Plains, Mont.
In 2007, Travis Johnson saw a teenage Swift perform a concert at the University of Idaho, where he was a student. She autographed a poster for him — to Travis, from Taylor.
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Years later, Johnson met a Taylor of his own. The pair matched on Bumble in the fall of 2020, when Johnson moved to Montana to become a game warden. They were married three years later.
Taylor Johnson, a 30-year-old occupational therapist, has contended with comments about her first name “ever since I can remember, ever since Taylor Swift became famous.” In recent weeks, the reactions to the couple’s names have been funny, she said.
An elderly acquaintance “called us ‘the original TNT’ the other day … and I was like, how do you know what this is?” she said. But then “I was telling one of my patients about this, and they had absolutely no clue what I was talking about.”
The Johnsons aren’t Swifties, though they admire her work — “How can you not appreciate all that she’s done?” Taylor said.
Nor are they intense followers of the NFL. Travis Johnson, 37, is a Seattle Seahawks fan, and Taylor grew up rooting for the New England Patriots, but they don’t spend much time watching football.
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Taylor said she was supporting the Chiefs last weekend “simply on principle of Taylor and Travis,” but she and her husband would be “pretty Switzerland about it” if Swift and Kelce broke up.
The couple, who got married on Sept. 30 in New Hampshire, are expecting their first child in May, a girl.
“Although I’m named Taylor after my mom’s middle name,” Johnson noted, “we won’t be carrying on the Taylor name.”
Enchanted to meet you
Taylor Corfield and Travis Eckenswiller, Mount Forest, Ontario
This fall, when Taylor Corfield walks down the aisle to fiancé Travis Eckenswiller, it will be to an instrumental version of Swift’s “Enchanted.” A medley of Swift’s music — “Lover,” “Love Story,” and other favorites — will accompany the bridal party before Corfield appears.
A lifelong fan who began listening to Swift’s music at age 9, Corfield has always enjoyed sharing a name with the singer. She’s known many Taylors — but she hasn’t met any other Taylor-and-Travises.
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“My immediate thought when I first heard it is like, ‘Oh, she found a Travis, too? That’s awesome!’” said Corfield, 26.
And she’s already hoping to make a couples’ costume out of it next Halloween, she said, if she can persuade Eckenswiller. “I don’t mind that idea. I’ll do that,” he replied.
Corfield and Eckenswiller became friends in high school, but they were dating other people. After they had both graduated, they began talking again, and they got together in 2018. They had a son in 2022, and they’ll be married Sept. 14.
Corfield is a “pretty die-hard” fan of Swift and, after being unable to get Eras Tour tickets, dreams of seeing her perform in Toronto one day.
Of all Swift’s romantic relationships, “this is definitely the one, I think probably because of the name, that I’ve been the most invested in,” she said.
“I hope they end up together.”
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