According to sports columnist Wendell Barnhouse, at least six babies born in Ohio have been named Tressel after Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel since 2003.
Barnhouse also knows of Alabaman babies who’ve been named Saban and Bryant, in honor of current and past University of Alabama coaches Nicholas “Nick” Saban and Paul “Bear” Bryant.
Update, Oct. 7, 2015: The 20th-annual Bear Bryant Namesake Reunion was held recently in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, according to the NYT: Where Bear Meets Bryant, Again and Again
Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Image: Adapted from New Meadowlands Stadium: Mezz Corner (cropped) by section215 under CC BY 2.0.
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Speaking of sports names, soccer is huge in Japan these days and more and more you hear of kids with the name of “Shuuto” (shoot), which is what they yell here when someone kicks the ball…my English is failing me…they say that in Engish too, right? I’ve never ever watched an English version of soccer. That is kind of strange.
How interesting! I’ve never encountered the word Shuuto before, either as a sports term or as a name.
I don’t know much about soccer, so unfortunately I have no idea what spectators would yell when someone kicks the ball. “Shoot” makes sense, though. (Anyone else know if this is right?)
Haha, in browsing through backdated posts I just found this and had to laugh. I go to the University of Alabama, and at the Bear Bryant Museum they keep a roster for people to sign if they’ve been named after Bear Bryant in some way. It’s a huge list and growing all the time.
Also a few months back, shortly after Nick Saban signed on with us, there was a newspaper article in my home town about a couple who named their newborn son Saban. They also have an older daughter named Tyde–as in, Crimson Tide. According to my grandmother, her old neighbors had a daughter named Crimson, in fact. We take our sports seriously here. ;)
My grandson’s middle name is Bryant and his first name is Nicolas. Of course Coach Saban spells his Nicholas with the h. I think son pulled a fast one because at the time daughter-in-law only realized the Bryant was football connected.
@Jae – Thanks for mentioning that roster! I checked the Paul W. Bryant Museum website — seems they’ve got all those namesakes online. I counted 139 (!) of them.
Not a college football coach, but a college football player:
Source: LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis is pushing the defense harder
well i dont think anyone takes their sports as serious as me and my husband we had twins and we are a divided house i got to name the little girl and he got to name the little boy and we were keeping the names a suprise till after the birth of our children and i had already decieded our little girls name would be Crimson Bry’anna Tyde and our little boys name turned out being Neyland Peyton Reese ….wonder which sports them they will pick when they become adults….
Just saw a news item about a baby named Tressel Hayes Huffines, born in April of 2007. The name honors Jim Tressel and Woody Hayes.
Source: “Baby Named After Buckeyes.” Madison Courier 9 Apr. 2007: A6.