Alter egos

An alter ego is described as a second self^[1], which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality.^[2] Alter egos are used by numerous performing artists who use stage or screen personae both to entertain audiences and to explore new identities for themselves^[2] but usually, people who have been deprived or who haven't been able to do what they always wanted to do in life have an alter ego.^[3]

Onika Tanya Maraj has created alter egos by different manners. The alter ego Cookie was created because of her parents' constant fights and arguments^[4]. Later, she created alter egos like Rosa and Nicole for entertainment purposes.^[5] In today's music, alter egos have been more frequently used by artists. Both Lady Gaga and Beyonce have created their alter egos "Jo Calderone" and "Sasha Fierce", respectively. Minaj's alter egos carry the traits of persons rather than alter egos, but Minaj herself has stated that she calls them her alter egos.^[6]

List of alter egos

The following is a list of alter egos created by Nicki Minaj in alphabetic order:

Image	Name	Origin	Purpose	First appearance	Description
	Chun Li	Somewhere in China	Rapping	"Fireball"	Nicki's bad guy persona. Her words cut deeper than knives.
	Cookie	Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago	To escape the troubles of her home life as a child.	Minaj's childhood	She is the first alter ego of Nicki Minaj, created during her childhood. She can be seen in some videos of her childhood and teenage years[4]
	Barbie Balla	Unknown	Rapping	Nicki's Instagram	On December 14th 2018 Nicki posted a photo on instagram with the caption "#BarbieBALLA new alias alert 🎉🍭"
	Female Weezy	Queens, New York City	Rapping	"Y.U. Mad"	She is the female version of Lil Wayne.[7]
	The Harajuku Barbie	Queens, New York City	Rapping/Singing	"Itty Bitty Piggy"	Often shortened simply to Barbie, she is the name of one of Minaj's longest lasting and most famous alter egos, particularly known for her soft voice.
	Lap Dance Nika	Unknown	Lap Dancing	I Am Music II Tour	She performed lap dances at Wayne's tour and later retired when the tour ended. She is rumored to appear when a lap dance is needed.
	Martha Zolanski	London, England	To discipline her son Roman.	"Roman's Revenge"	She is the mother of Roman Zolanski and the godmother of Nicki. She's strict and commanding.
	Nicki Lewinsky	Queens, New York City	Rapping	"Sunshine"	She is one of the most know alter egos of Minaj when she was an underground artist during her mixtape days, and is known for her sexual lyrics.
	Nicki Teresa	New York City	To heal	Minaj's visit at "The Garden of Dreams Foundation"	Also known as The Healer, she wears a colorful scarf around her head and went around places as the "healer to her fans."[8]
	Nicki the Boss	Queens, New York City	Rapping	"Jump Off '07"	She is described as the ingenious austere business woman that always thinks outside of the box and who is never afraid to assert herself.[9]
	Nicki the Ninja	Philippines	Rapping	"Higher Than a Kite"	She is a hip hop lyrical assassin, who is sometimes naughty.[10]
	Nicole	California	For fun	Elle photo shoot interview	She is portrayed as a very sweet and bubbly girl who is up for any man who seeks her attention.
	Norman	Unknown	For fun	Minaj's UStream	He is an alter ego who made appearances on UStream along with SB.[11]
	Onika	Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago	Rapping/Singing	"Letting Go (Dutty Love)	Onika is just the Normal Nicki; when Nicki shows her true self. She is vulnerable, romantic, and strong.
	Point Dexter	Unknown	SNL skit	"The Creep"	Often shortened to simply Dexter, he is creepy and a pervert.[12]
	Roman Zolanski	London, England	Rapping	"Bottoms Up"	Minaj's most well-known and utilized alter ego, described as an English homosexual male characterized by being far more outspoken and wild than Nicki herself.
	Romania	Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean	"Bed" music video	"Bed"	She was captured her in rare form in the "Bed" music video. Before they knew it, she was gone. She didn’t like the cameras & drones.
	Rosa	Spain, or Latin American	For fun	Lopez Tonight	She was created in an interview with George Lopez.[13]
	Tyrone	Harlem, New York City	Rapping	"Till the World Ends (The Femme Fatale Remix)"	He is a crackhead from Harlem who raps in a detuned and erratic way.

Unconfirmed/Unofficial alter egos

In various occasions Minaj have called herself by many different names leading to fan's speculate of more alter egos, however, those have not been confirmed by Minaj as her alter egos or simply they do not have enough information to be classified as alter egos. The following is a list of unconfirmed or unofficial alter egos of Nicki Minaj:

1. The Bride of Blackenstein: character of Minaj created for an episode of Saturday Night Live, who acted like a complainant wife.^[14] Some fans catalog her as an alter ego.
2. Da Kid: Minaj sometimes change her tone when saying "Da Kid" but it could probably just be nickname like "Nicki Minaj."^[15][16]
3. Dr. Minaj: for the music video of "Out of My Mind," Minaj created a character for the video called "Dr. Minaj" who falls in love with her patient B.o.B.
4. Black Hannah Montana: referring to herself as "Hannah Montana," Minaj could mean various things: one being she has alter egos like Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) had Hannah Montana, or that she is a super star like Montana.^[17][18][19]
5. Sexy Chocolate: Minaj said on her twitter that her stripper name is "Sexy Chocolate."^[20] Nothing else is known about her.
6. Super Snatch: for the Beam Me Up Scotty photo shoot, Minaj said that she was dressed up like "Super Snatch" and said that she is "coming soon" before saying "the fastest boss in the business."^[21]
7. None Salmon: Nicki responded to a tweet that stated "Your stripper name is the color of your underwear and the last thing you ate," and deemed herself "None Salmon."
8. Lorrie Zolanski: Lorrie is a rumored alter-ego that supposedly appeared in Stupid Hoe and was rumored to appear in Beez In The Trap as well. She is said to be the younger sister of Roman, and daughter of Martha. She has a lisp and swears like a sailor.
9. Mermie: A rumored alter ego was made by fans every time they see Nicki in a green wig and a bikini like in "Massive Attack", Super Bass", "Starships" etc., Mermie is a mermaid that came to land, hence it's name.
10. The Generous Queen: The generous queen is said to appear in the videos for Ganja Burn and No Frauds. She is very generous and has calculated moves. As stated in the opening of the Ganja Burn music video, she let her enemies win first generously, so she could strike back later.

References