Yesterday, professional golfer Eldrick “Tiger” Woods and his Swedish wife Elin welcomed their first baby — a little girl they named Sam Alexis. Here’s part of the announcement Tiger wrote on his website:
Elin and I are delighted to announce the birth of our daughter, Sam Alexis Woods. Sam was born early Monday morning, June 18th. Both Elin and Sam are doing well and resting peacefully.
The name Sam is a nod to Tiger’s late father, Earl.
My father had always called me Sam since the day I was born. He rarely ever called me Tiger. I would ask him, “Why don’t you ever call me Tiger?” He says, “Well, you look more like a Sam.”
I find it interesting that they selected two fairly gender-neutral names for their daughter.
Sam originated as a nickname for longer monikers such as Samuel and Samantha. Sam by itself has never ranked among the top 1,000 baby girl names in the United States, but it has been among the top names for boys for well over a century.
Alexis can be traced back to a Greek word meaning “helper, defender.” Unlike Sam, this name has been extremely popular for baby girls the past few decades. Alexis is also quite common among baby boys.
Neither Sam nor Alexis ranked among top 100 Swedish baby names in 2006.
What do you think about the name Sam Alexis: Love it? Hate it? So-so?
Sources:
- TigerWoods.com
- “Woods says wife told him to keep playing in Open.” ESPN.com 3 Jul. 2007.
Image: Adapted from Tiger Woods – AT&T National tournament 2009 by Tim Hipps (U.S. Army) under CC BY 2.0.
[Latest update: Nov. 2024]
Actually a great name, sounds good and very cute for a little girl who is bound to be good looking. The Alexis softens the name, and she has quite a few non-nicknames to go by…both or just Sam or just Alexis. Once again Tiger surprises us. I thought she’d be Earlene for his father, but that is in no way a name for a 21st century kid.
I had that same thought — that her name (or more likely her middle name) would be some sort of play on the name Earl.