The nickname Kaká , from his native Portuguese , is pronounced as it is spelt. The accent would signify that the stress is on the second syllable. In Italian , the language of his current team, the phonetic equivalent is written as Kakà , which is used for Italian television graphics. However, the player's shirt name is spelt KAKA' (with an apostrophe , rather than an accented 'A') for both Brazil and Milan.

An internet discussion forum explains the nickname as a commonly used shortened form of "Ricardo" in Portuguese. Kaká is supposed to have got his nickname because his little brother Rodrigo could not pronounce the word "Ricardo" when they were young. Rodrigo called his older brother "Caca" which the latter later changed to "Kaká".