Baby named for UFC fighter

American mixed martial artist Urijah Faber
Urijah Faber

My husband spotted this toward the end of a New York Times article about the UFC going mainstream.

Some lines at the expo were enormous. People waited for a chance to enter the octagon and pose with a championship belt slung over their shoulder. Others wanted autographs from fighters. Urijah Faber, the California Kid, was a huge draw. Well tanned, with long blond hair, he looks as if he ought to be jogging toward the ocean with a surf board under his arm.

“You are so cool and laid-back, man, but you’re also a real warrior,” Sam Akaweih, 29, a physical education teacher, said to the fighter.

Gilbert Gonzalez, 27, an emergency medical technician, told Faber he had named his 2-year-old son after him. “Urijah and I have this spiritual connection,” the fan later explained. “I watch him on TV and when I yell, ‘Knee him, knee him, knee that guy!’ he hears me. He knees the guy.”

Little 2-year-old Urijah wasn’t the only baby named with the UFC fighter Urijah Faber in mind. Check out how the popularity of the baby name Urijah exploded in 2008-2009:

  • 2012: 354 baby boys and 15 baby girls named Urijah
  • 2011: 359 baby boys and 5 baby girls named Urijah
  • 2010: 390 baby boys and 13 baby girls named Urijah
  • 2009: 403 baby boys and 17 baby girls named Urijah
  • 2008: 235 baby boys and 12 baby girls named Urijah
  • 2007: 28 baby boys named Urijah
  • 2006: 5 baby boys named Urijah

What are your thoughts on the baby name Urijah?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Urijah Faber 24 July 2009 by Kelly Bailey under CC BY 2.0.

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