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:
- Bearak, Barry. “Ultimate Fighting Championship Comes of Age.” New York Times 11 Nov. 2011.
- SSA
Image: Adapted from Urijah Faber 24 July 2009 by Kelly Bailey under CC BY 2.0.