Adriana Diaz, SEO reporter Updated: 17:10 ET, Apr 29 2021 TEXAS Senator Ted Cruz has admitted he is not from Texas or named Ted. The politician has addressed these discrepancies that have puzzled voters. 3 What is Ted Cruz's real name? Ted Cruz's legal name is Rafael Edward Cruz, after his father. In his 2015 autobiography, “A Time for Truth,” Cruz admitted that he chose to stop going by Rafael when he was 13 years old. He was living in Houston by then and commonly went by the nickname Felito. Cruz wrote that “The problem with that name was that it seemed to rhyme with every major corn chip on the market. Fritos, Cheetos, Doritos and Tostitos—a fact that other young children were quite happy to point out."