How popular is the baby name Luciano in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Luciano.
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The South American country of Uruguay doesn’t publish an annual list of top baby names per se, but Uruguay’s Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIC) does release a list of all the names used among people who obtained their Uruguayan identity card for the first time within a given year.
As we saw in 2021 and 2020, the DNIC rankings combine all names (male and female) together on a single list, but don’t combine different forms of the same name (e.g., Maria and María) into single entries on that list. Most notably, the rankings account for not just first-name usage, but also second-name usage (as Uruguayans are allowed to include a maximum of two given names on their identity cards).
So now that we have all that out of the way… the DNIC data reveals that the most-registered names in the country in 2022 were María and Juan.
Here are Uruguay’s top 100+ registered names of 2022:
María, 1,170 babies
Juan, 1,138
Maria, 1,108
Isabella, 885
Benjamín, 780
Emma, 766
Mateo, 728
Valentina, 660
Catalina, 659
Luis, 648
Alejandro, 647
Martina, 640
Felipe, 637
Carlos, 589
Valentín, 568
Ezequiel, 562
Emilia, 559
Manuel, 556
Daniel, 555
Lorenzo, 550
Julieta, 546
José, 535
Gabriel, 518
Jose, 517
Nicolás, 491
Sofía, 486
Ignacio, 455
Alberto, 452
Santiago, 450
Francisco, 442
David, 438
Agustín, 435
Olivia, 429
Josefina, 422
Valentino, 416
Antonio, 410 (tie)
Lucas, 410 (tie)
Bautista, 405
Delfina, 396
Lautaro, 389
Benjamin, 384
Eduardo, 383
Belén, 378
Thiago, 372
Gael, 371
Santino, 370
Victoria, 367
Javier, 365
Agustina, 363
Jorge, 362
Emiliano, 358
Dante, 357
Alexander, 351
Tomás, 342
Paulina, 335
Miguel, 334
Rafael, 329
Ana, 324
Joaquín, 320
Samuel, 315
Pablo, 313
Sofia, 309
Pilar, 308
Diego, 307
Zoe, 306
Alfonsina, 300
Renata, 297
Clara, 278 (3-way tie)
Liam, 278 (3-way tie)
Sebastián, 278 (3-way tie)
Milagros, 276
Francesca, 271
Fernando, 268
Emily, 265
Enrique, 262
Facundo, 261
Federico, 260 (tie)
Pedro, 260 (tie)
Angel, 258
Bastian, 253
Bruno, 252 (tie)
Martín, 252 (tie)
Alejandra, 251
Carolina, 249 (tie)
Noah, 249 (tie)
Guadalupe, 246
Nicolas, 243
Vicente, 240
Enzo, 235
Salvador, 228
Sebastian, 227
Juana, 225
Valentin, 222
Guillermo, 220
Alma, 218 (tie)
Emanuel, 218 (tie)
Nahuel, 215
Camila, 211 (tie)
Elena, 211 (tie)
Andres, 210
Andrés, 209 (3-way tie)
Benicio, 209 (3-way tie)
Paz, 209 (3-way tie)
Gabriela, 208
Beatriz, 207
Ciro, 206 (tie)
Martin, 206 (tie)
Maite, 203
Andrea, 202
Elizabeth, 200 (tie)
Laura, 200 (tie)
Isabel, 199 (tie)
Mia, 199 (tie)
Luciano, 198
Ismael, 197
Jazmín, 195
Camilo, 194
Marcelo, 192
Franco, 190
Agustin, 189
Alfonso, 187
Aitana, 186 (tie)
Bianca, 186 (tie)
Ramiro, 185
Gustavo, 184
Cataleya, 183
Roberto, 178
Ariel, 176
Lucía, 174
Micaela, 173 (tie)
Ricardo, 173 (tie)
(I went down this far to ensure that at least fifty girl names were included.)
Here are a few names from lower down on the list:
80 babies were named Celeste, which is the nickname of Uruguay’s national soccer team.
73 babies were named Aylen, and roughly two hundred more were given a different spelling of the name (e.g., Ayelen, Aylén, Ayelén, Aylín, Aylin). This is a Mapuche name with several possible meanings, including “ember” and “clear.”
38 babies were named Coromoto, which comes from a Marian title.
15 babies were named Inti, which is the Quechua word for “sun.”
9 babies were named Amaru, which is the Quechua word for “snake.”
8 babies were named Borja, which comes from the name of Spanish saint Francisco de Borja.
7 babies were named Irupé, which is the Guaraní word for the large South American water-lily Victoria cruziana.
5 babies were named Yamandú, which was the name of a historical Guarani chief.
4 babies were named Chiquinquira, which comes from a Marian title.
Two others were named Aurora de la Chiquinquira and Leomarys de la Chiquinquira.
4 babies were named Itanú, which is a Charrúa name said to mean “heartbeat of stone.”
3 babies were named Guidaí, which is the Charrúa word for “moon.”
3 babies were named Tacuabé, which was the name of a historical Charrúa man.
Following the Massacre of Salsipuedes in 1831, Tacuabé and several other Charrúa prisoners were taken to France to be put on exhibition.
2 babies were named Amancay, which is a Quechua word that refers to a lily-like South American flower.
2 babies were named Amapola, which means “poppy” in Spanish.
2 babies were named Atahualpa, which was the name of the last emperor of the Inca.
2 babies were named Everton, which may refer to Everton F.C.
2 babies were named Leunam, which is Manuel spelled backwards.
2 babies were named Pérola, which means “pearl” in Portuguese.
2 babies were named Uruguay.
And, because Uruguay releases all of its baby name data, we can also check out the unique names at the bottom of the list. Here’s a selection Uruguay’s single-use baby names of 2022:
The country of Uruguay, located in the southern region of South America, shares land borders with Argentina and Brazil.
According to Uruguay’s Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIC), the most popular baby names in the country in 2021 were María and Juan.
Uruguay’s baby name rankings consist of girl and boy names mixed together on a single list. The data mostly represents first-name usage, but does include some second-name usage as well. (This is because the rankings are created from Uruguayan identity card data, and Uruguayans are permitted to add up to two given names to their ID cards.)
That said, here are Uruguay’s top 100+ baby names of 2021:
María, 1,260 babies
María was used 858 times as a first name and 402 times as a second name.
Juan, 1,023
Juan was used 980 times as a first name and 43 times as a second name.
Benjamín, 925
Maria, 889
Isabella, 798
Mateo, 778
Valentina, 725
Emma, 722
Martina, 706
Catalina, 658
Julieta, 644
Felipe, 631
Sofía, 624
Valentín, 615
Ezequiel, 561
Nicolás, 541
Lorenzo, 535
Emilia, 513
Agustín, 487 (tie)
Bautista, 487 (tie)
Belén, 477
Daniel, 459
Manuel, 450
Alejandro, 433
Santiago, 429
Francisco, 426
Delfina, 422
Lautaro, 421 (tie)
Agustina, 421 (tie)
Santino, 419
Carlos, 417
Lucas, 413
Valentino, 411
Dante, 407
Josefina, 393
Luis, 392
Ignacio, 389 (tie)
Gabriel, 389 (tie)
Joaquín, 385
Olivia, 380
José, 374
Thiago, 359
Emiliano, 352
Gael, 343
Victoria, 341
Francesca, 325
Alberto, 324
Tomás, 318
Sebastián, 315
Renata, 312
David, 308
Jose, 302
Martín, 301
Zoe, 296
Bastian, 290
Samuel, 288
Milagros, 286
Eduardo, 284
Pilar, 280 (tie)
Paulina, 280 (tie)
Bruno, 278
Alexander, 275 (tie)
Ana, 275 (tie)
Clara, 271
Facundo, 267
Emily, 261 (tie)
Pedro, 261 (tie)
Benjamin, 259
Antonio, 257 (tie)
Alfonsina, 257 (tie)
Guadalupe, 255
Sofia, 254 (tie)
Vicente, 254 (tie)
Pablo, 254 (tie)
Federico, 253
Emanuel, 251
Diego, 249
Jorge, 240
Javier, 239
Salvador, 235
Rafael, 230
Fernando, 229
Nahuel, 228
Jazmín, 226
Luciano, 223
Liam, 222
Paz, 218
Camila, 217
Maite, 216
Andrés, 207
Ismael, 206 (tie)
Miguel, 206 (tie)
Alma, 205
Noah, 204
Mía, 203
Lucía, 202 (tie)
Benicio, 202 (tie)
Mia, 201
Franco, 198
Nicolas, 195
Bianca, 194
Isabel, 193
Juana, 191
Camilo, 190
Tadeo, 188
Enzo, 187
Guillermo, 186
Cataleya, 183
Alejandra, 181 (tie)
Sebastian, 181 (tie)
Florencia, 179
Carolina, 175
Enrique, 172
Ramiro, 171
Alfonso, 167
Faustino, 166
Ámbar, 164 (4-way tie)
Beatriz, 164 (4-way tie)
Logan, 164 (4-way tie)
Marcelo, 164 (4-way tie)
Matías, 161 (tie)
Ciro, 161 (tie)
Aitana, 160 (tie)
Antonella, 160 (tie)
Angel, 159 (tie)
Nahitan, 159 (tie)
Nicole, 158
Andrea, 156 (tie)
Elena, 156 (tie)
(I went down this far to ensure that at least fifty girl names were included.)
Here are a few names from lower down on the list:
16 babies were named Tabaré, which was the name of former Uruguayan president Tabaré Vázquez (who died in December of 2020).
Tabaré was given to just 2 babies the year before.
6 were named Atahualpa, which was the name of the last emperor of the Inca.
Atahualpa was given to just one baby the year before.
2 were named Cono, perhaps after St. Cono of Italy.
2 were named Giorgian, which is the first name of Uruguayan soccer player Giorgian de Arrascaeta.
2 were named Pampa, which may refer to the Pampas — the grasslands of South America.
The Spanish word pampa comes directly from the Quechua word pampa, meaning “plain, field.”
And, because Uruguay releases all of its baby name data, we can also check out the unique names at the other end of the spectrum. Here’s a selection Uruguay’s single-use baby names of 2021:
In 2020, the top names in Uruguay were Emma and Juan. (Emma managed to beat María/Maria only because Uruguay counts the accented and unaccented forms of names separately in the rankings.)
Olivia Emma Charlotte Amelia Sophia Isabella Ava Mia Evelyn Luna Harper Camila Sofia Scarlett Elizabeth Eleanor Emily Chloe Mila Violet Penelope Gianna Aria Abigail Ella Avery Hazel Nora Layla Lily Aurora Nova Ellie Madison Grace Isla Willow Zoe Riley Stella Eliana Ivy Victoria Emilia Zoey Naomi Hannah Lucy Elena Lillian Maya Leah Paisley Addison Natalie Valentina Everly Delilah Leilani Madelyn Kinsley Ruby Sophie Alice Genesis Claire Audrey Sadie Aaliyah Josephine Autumn Brooklyn Quinn Kennedy Cora Savannah Caroline Athena Natalia Hailey Aubrey Emery Anna Iris Bella Eloise Skylar Jade Gabriella Ariana Maria Adeline Lydia Sarah Nevaeh Serenity Liliana Ayla Everleigh Raelynn Allison Madeline Vivian Maeve Lyla Samantha Rylee Eva Melody Clara Hadley Julia Piper Juniper Parker Brielle Eden Remi Josie Rose Arya Eliza Charlie Peyton Daisy Lucia Millie Margaret Freya Melanie Elliana Adalynn Alina Emersyn Sienna Mary Isabelle Alaia Esther Sloane Mackenzie Amara Ximena Sage Cecilia Valeria Reagan Valerie Catalina River Magnolia Kehlani Summer Ashley Andrea Isabel Oakley Olive Oaklynn Ember Kaylee Georgia Juliette Anastasia Genevieve Katherine Blakely Reese Amaya Emerson Brianna June Alani Lainey Arianna Rosalie Sara Jasmine Ruth Adalyn Ada Bailey Ariella Wren Myla Khloe Callie Elsie Alexandra Ryleigh Faith Norah Margot Zuri Journee Aspen Gemma Kylie Molly Blake Zara Alaina Alana Brynlee Amy Annie Saylor Ana Amira Kimberly Noelle Kamila Morgan Phoebe Harmony Sutton Taylor Finley Lilah Juliana Lila Londyn Kailani Vera Kaia Angela Hallie Diana Lennon Presley Arabella Aliyah Lilly Milani Jordyn Camille Ariel Aubree Selena Sawyer Nyla Delaney Mariana Rachel Adaline Leila Collins Lia Octavia Kali Lena Kiara Kaylani Elaina Daniela Leia Gracie Dakota Elise Hope Harlow Lola Stevie Malia Miriam Alora Gia Evangeline Brooke Lilith Sydney Ophelia Alayna Tatum Evie Rowan Marley Daphne Kayla Dahlia Lucille Blair Adelaide Wrenley Haven Teagan Adelyn Alyssa Payton Jane Mckenna Celeste Juliet Palmer Maggie Rebecca London Noa Samara Thea Kendall Mya Talia Winter Angelina Vivienne Esme Laila Nina Trinity Vanessa Mabel Camilla Jocelyn Journey Paige Phoenix Amina Alivia Amari Joanna Nicole Annabelle Raegan Aitana Julianna Lauren Catherine Adriana Madilyn Harley Tessa Evelynn Elianna Rory Dream Nayeli Poppy Gabriela Jayla Cataleya Celine Hayden Shiloh Mariah Charlee Maisie Regina Adelynn Briella Giselle Fatima Danna Alessia Mckenzie Wynter Fiona Brooklynn Gracelynn Luciana Alexis Everlee Laura Selah Reign Alayah Rosemary Lilliana Ariyah Heidi Esmeralda Logan Amora Kalani Leighton Cali Melissa Aniyah Izabella Michelle Raelyn Alessandra Viviana Madeleine Arielle Serena Francesca Brynn Gwendolyn Kira Destiny Elle Makayla Alaya Malani Willa Saige Makenna Remington Demi Adelina Raya Astrid Azalea Veronica Meadow Anaya Elisa Raven Alexandria Hattie Alicia Sabrina Gracelyn Matilda Skye Annalise Frances Miracle Maia Helen Lana Daleyza Rosie Charli Bianca Royalty Sarai Amiyah Nylah Aylin Maryam Scarlet Antonella Sylvia Sylvie Nadia Ari Lexi Mylah Julieta Lorelei Avianna Armani Camryn Emely Rylie Colette Daniella Liana Brinley Kate Salem Marlee Alison Carmen Felicity Fernanda Holly Ariah Aisha Kora Amanda Ailani Elaine Emory Joy Oaklee Lyric Madelynn Haisley Allie Helena Danielle Katalina Carolina Zariah Navy Cassidy Lorelai Stephanie Alma Mira Legacy Jolene Anya Dorothy Paris Yaretzi Aurelia Maddison Renata Jimena Xiomara Itzel Heaven Lyra Estella Gabrielle Maren
Liam Noah Oliver James Elijah William Henry Lucas Benjamin Theodore Mateo Levi Sebastian Daniel Jack Michael Alexander Owen Asher Samuel Ethan Leo Jackson Mason Ezra John Hudson Luca Aiden Joseph David Jacob Logan Luke Julian Gabriel Grayson Wyatt Matthew Maverick Dylan Isaac Elias Anthony Thomas Jayden Carter Santiago Ezekiel Charles Josiah Caleb Cooper Lincoln Miles Christopher Nathan Isaiah Kai Joshua Andrew Angel Adrian Cameron Nolan Waylon Jaxon Roman Eli Wesley Aaron Ian Christian Ryan Leonardo Brooks Axel Walker Jonathan Easton Everett Weston Bennett Robert Jameson Landon Silas Jose Beau Micah Colton Jordan Jeremiah Parker Greyson Rowan Adam Nicholas Theo Xavier Hunter Dominic Jace Gael River Thiago Kayden Damian August Carson Austin Myles Amir Declan Emmett Ryder Luka Connor Jaxson Milo Enzo Giovanni Vincent Diego Luis Archer Harrison Kingston Atlas Jasper Sawyer Legend Lorenzo Evan Jonah Chase Bryson Adriel Nathaniel Arthur Juan George Cole Zion Jason Ashton Carlos Calvin Brayden Elliot Rhett Emiliano Ace Jayce Graham Max Braxton Leon Ivan Hayden Jude Malachi Dean Tyler Jesus Zachary Kaiden Elliott Arlo Emmanuel Ayden Bentley Maxwell Amari Ryker Finn Antonio Charlie Maddox Justin Judah Kevin Dawson Matteo Miguel Zayden Camden Messiah Alan Alex Nicolas Felix Alejandro Jesse Beckett Matias Tucker Emilio Xander Knox Oscar Beckham Timothy Abraham Andres Gavin Brody Barrett Hayes Jett Brandon Joel Victor Peter Abel Edward Karter Patrick Richard Grant Avery King Caden Adonis Riley Tristan Kyrie Blake Eric Griffin Malakai Rafael Israel Tate Lukas Nico Marcus Stetson Javier Colt Omar Simon Kash Remington Jeremy Louis Mark Lennox Callum Kairo Nash Kyler Dallas Crew Preston Paxton Steven Zane Kaleb Lane Phoenix Paul Cash Kenneth Bryce Ronan Kaden Maximiliano Walter Maximus Emerson Hendrix Jax Atticus Zayn Tobias Cohen Aziel Kayson Rory Brady Finley Holden Jorge Malcolm Clayton Niko Francisco Josue Brian Bryan Cade Colin Andre Cayden Aidan Muhammad Derek Ali Elian Bodhi Cody Jensen Damien Martin Cairo Ellis Khalil Otto Zander Dante Ismael Angelo Brantley Manuel Colson Cruz Tatum Jaylen Jaden Erick Cristian Romeo Milan Reid Cyrus Leonel Joaquin Ari Odin Orion Ezequiel Gideon Daxton Warren Casey Anderson Spencer Karson Eduardo Chance Fernando Raymond Bradley Cesar Wade Prince Julius Dakota Kade Koa Raiden Callan Hector Onyx Remy Ricardo Edwin Stephen Kane Saint Titus Desmond Killian Sullivan Mario Jay Kamari Luciano Royal Zyaire Marco Wilder Russell Nasir Rylan Archie Jared Gianni Kashton Kobe Sergio Travis Marshall Iker Briggs Gunner Apollo Bowen Baylor Sage Tyson Kyle Oakley Malik Mathias Sean Armani Hugo Johnny Sterling Forrest Harvey Banks Grady Kameron Jake Franklin Lawson Tanner Eden Jaziel Pablo Reed Pedro Zayne Royce Edgar Ibrahim Winston Ronin Leonidas Devin Damon Noel Rhys Clark Corbin Sonny Colter Esteban Erik Baker Adan Dariel Kylo Tripp Caiden Frank Solomon Major Memphis Quinn Dax Hank Donovan Finnegan Nehemiah Andy Camilo Asa Jeffrey Santino Isaias Jaiden Kian Fabian Callen Ruben Alexis Emanuel Francis Garrett Kendrick Matthias Wells Augustus Jasiah Alijah Alonzo Koda Collin Ford Frederick Jaxton Kohen Troy Kason Seth Denver Kyson Ares Raphael Bodie Sylas Uriel Zaiden Shiloh Lewis Kieran Marcos Bo Shepherd Philip Zaire Gregory Princeton Roberto Leland Eithan
From an early 2023 Anaheim Ducks video in which former football player Troy Aikman addresses his namesake, hockey player Troy Terry (b. 1997):
How cool are we to have the name Troy, first of all. Now I know why your parents named you Troy, so it makes me feel really proud. But what makes me feel even prouder is the fact that the Ducks organization has given me the honor to let you know that, for the second consecutive year, you my friend are an NHL All-Star.
If you really, really know me, and you want to get under my skin a little bit, you go with Wardell. So there’s three options there. There’s Stephen, which is — I kind of know what the relationship is. If you go Wardell, that means we go way back.
The pitch meeting, according to Steph’s father Dell, who was present, kicked off with one Nike official accidentally addressing Stephen as “Steph-on” […] “I heard some people pronounce his name wrong before,” says Dell Curry. “I wasn’t surprised. I was surprised that I didn’t get a correction.”
It got worse from there. A PowerPoint slide featured Kevin Durant’s name, presumably left on by accident, presumably residue from repurposed materials. “I stopped paying attention after that,” Dell says. Though Dell resolved to “keep a poker face,” throughout the entirety of the pitch, the decision to leave Nike was in the works.
From a 2016 article about Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo:
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was named, in part, after Ronald Reagan, president of the United States at the time of his birth [in 1985] and his father’s favorite actor. “My parents named me after him because they both liked this name and thought it sounded strong,” he tells me. “I know that my father admired him.”
From a 2013 ESPN interview with football player Frostee Rucker:
How did you get the name Frostee?
“My pop [Len] was a DJ while he was in the military and they called him DJ Frost because they said he was cold on the spins. [They called him] Frost, Frostee all that. No matter what he named me they were going to call me Little Frost anyway, so they named me Frostee.”
[…]
What was it like growing up named Frostee?
“It sucked growing up really because kids at Christmas time and teachers, and me being African American, it just didn’t all come together but about [the] time I came to high school it became a household name in Orange County (Calif.).
“It’s just benefited [me] from then. It’s always caught peoples’ eye in the paper and they wanted to know more. So I don’t know if I’ll name my kid that if I ever have one but at the same time being unique isn’t bad either.”
“We’re always going to be compared, but we’re the Black sisters not the Williams sisters,” [mom Gayal Black] said.
[…]
“Alicia got her name ‘Tornado’ when she was 3 and playing out of her mind,” she said. “We couldn’t believe how amazing she was and we knew then we had a champion. When the next one was born, we knew she could do it, too, and so her [legal] name is Tyra Hurricane.”
But raising champions was only a part of the strategy.
“I have a marketing degree . . . and I knew I needed to do something for them to stand out, and we thought it was cute,” Gayal said. “[Tornado didn’t like her name] a few years ago. Kids tease you. But now they understand it’s marketing and it’s very big to say a storm blew through the US Open.
From a 2022 article in Sporting News about young Czech hockey player Ivan Ivan:
Ivan Ivan, a Czechia forward who has the same first and last name, took the hockey world by storm last December when he was on the team’s roster at the canceled World Juniors. While a graphic from December stating that his name was Ivan Ivan Ivan caused a stir, it’s unfortunately just Ivan Ivan.
From the 2015 essay “Why I converted to Islam” by basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis “Lew” Alcindor):
The transition from Lew to Kareem was not merely a change in celebrity brand name — like Sean Combs to Puff Daddy to Diddy to P. Diddy — but a transformation of heart, mind and soul. I used to be Lew Alcindor, the pale reflection of what white America expected of me. Now I’m Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the manifestation of my African history, culture and beliefs.
[…]
The adoption of a new name was an extension of my rejection of all things in my life that related to the enslavement of my family and people. Alcindor was a French planter in the West Indies who owned my ancestors. My forebears were Yoruba people, from present day Nigeria. Keeping the name of my family’s slave master seemed somehow to dishonor them. His name felt like a branded scar of shame.
[…]
Some fans still call me Lew, then seem annoyed when I ignore them. They don’t understand that their lack of respect for my spiritual choice is insulting. It’s as if they see me as a toy action figure, existing solely to decorate their world as they see fit, rather than as an individual with his own life.
From a 2014 11 Freunde tweet about World Cup-winning German soccer player Mario Götze:
Dieser Moment, in dem du dachtest: Wenn er den macht, nenne ich meinen Sohn Mario.
…Translation:
This moment, in which you thought: If he makes it, I call my son Mario.
You’re not a real Mets fan unless you name your kid Shea.
Over the weekend, David Wright and his wife, Molly, had a baby girl. Her name: Olivia Shea Wright. Clearly, Wright has a fondness for the stadium where his Mets career began. So much so that he made his daughter part of a decades-old trend that seems to ebb and flow along with the success of the team.
(Shea Stadium was the home of the New York Mets from 1964 to 2008.)
Some other things we noticed: 10 percent of the list falls into the “Tech & Geek” category, which includes names inspired by Computing (“Paige Not Found,” “Syntax Terror,” “Ctrl Alt Defeat”) fonts (“Crimes New Roman,” “Give ‘Em Hell Vetica”); Chemistry (“Carmen Die Oxide,” “ChLauraform”); and Philosophy (“Blockem’s Razor”).
There seemed to be a bit of destiny attached. Her middle name, Ka-polioka’ehukai, means Heart of the Sea.
“Most Hawaiian grandparents name you before you’re born,” she says. “They have a dream or something that tells them what the name will be.” Hawaiians also have a knack for giving people rhythmic, dead-on nicknames, and for young Rell they had a beauty: Rella Propella.
“My godmother called me that because I was always moving so fast,” says Rell. “To this day, people think my real name is Rella. Actually I was born Roella, a combination of my parents’ names: Roen and Elbert. But I hated it, and no one used it, so I changed it to Rell.”
From a 2017 interview [vid] with professional basketball player Isaiah Thomas (who was, at that time, a star player for the Boston Celtics):
My dad is from Los Angeles, California. He’s a big Laker fan. And he made a wager that if the Detroit Pistons beat the Lakers [in the 1989 Finals] he’d name his son Isiah Thomas. […] My mom, she grew up in church, and she liked the name but she wanted it spelled the biblical way, that’s why my name is spelled slightly different than the older Isiah Thomas.
(Thomas was born in February, but the Finals weren’t until June. Sports Illustratedclarifies that the bet was made before the birth — and well before the Finals — but that, by the time the baby arrived, Thomas’ father had “had warmed to the idea of his very own Isiah.”)
From the same interview [vid], former Detroit Pistons player Isiah Thomas getting a kick out hearing his own name being chanted at the Boston Garden:
It’s so beautiful [laughs]. I love it. I love it that, you know, and even though they’re not chanting my name, to hear them chant “MVP” and they’re talking about Isaiah Thomas in the Boston Garden — it’s just awesome.
From a recent article in the Akron Beacon Journal about rookie football player Isaiah Thomas:
Thomas, 6-foot-5 and 266 pounds, was named after the Hall of Fame basketball player Isiah Thomas. The Detroit Pistons star was his father’s favorite player and his mother loved the name because of what it represents in the Bible.
His dad wanted Thomas to be a basketball player, and Thomas said he won two state championships at Memorial High School in Tulsa. But there was never any debate over which sport Thomas would play.
With a first name as iconic as Kobe Bryant’s, who needs a middle name with an interesting story? Well, Kobe Bryant does. His middle name — Bean — is a touching tribute to his father, Joe Bryant. Because of his high energy and ability to jump (guess Kobe must have inherited that particular skill), his father was nicknamed “Jellybean.” Luckily, Kobe’s parents didn’t go for the full candy-coated name and instead just dubbed him Kobe Bean Bryant.
From a late 2021 article about college football by AP journalist Stephen Hawkins:
Cincinnati cornerback Coby Bryant […] changed his number for the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl against No. 1 Alabama on Friday.
Yes, Bryant is named after the late NBA great, even with the different spelling of the first name.
For the playoff game, Bryant switched from the No. 7 he had worn throughout his Cincinnati career to No. 8, one of the two numbers the basketball Hall of Fame player wore while winning five NBA titles over his 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.
“My parents loved Kobe Bryant and my brother does too,” the Bearcats cornerback said. “So I was named for Kobe Bryant. It’s just spelled differently”
From an article about the name of Olympic swimmer Leisel Jones:
“Leisel was a very rare name when I was born in 1985… When I was born actually, my doctor said to my mum ‘you cannot call her Leisel because that’s not a name… You’re going to regret that one day,'” the Olympic swimmer said.
“And they absolutely did.”
The 32-year-old also went on to say having a unique name isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, especially when no one can spell it right.
“The only problem with my name is it’s spelt L-E-I-S-E-L — and everyone spells it wrong. Everyone spells it as L-I-E-S-E-L,” she said.
“So that is a bit painful, it’s a bit annoying. But I do love my name and I love that it’s different.”
Preparing for the fall season, the offensive coordinator for University of Washington’s football team realized his team had a small problem. It went by the name Jacob.
The Pac-12 Huskies had four quarterbacks named Jacob or Jake (plus a linebacker named Jake and a tight end named Jacob).
From a 2015 article about British professional boxer Tyson Fury in The Guardian:
Yep, he is named after Mike Tyson, and yep, Tyson Fury is a perfect name for a boxer. Fury was born prematurely and only weighed one pound. “The doctors told me there was not much chance of him living,” said his father, John Fury. “I had lost two daughters in the same way who had been born prematurely. They told me there was not much hope for him. It was 1988, Mike Tyson was in his pomp as world heavyweight champion, and so I said, ‘Let’s call him Tyson’. The doctors just looked at me and smiled.”
She was named after the official island flower of Oahu — the ilima — recognizable for its delicate yellow petals.
“It was considered a flower for royalty,” Macfarlane said during an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday, “because it would take hundreds of flowers to make a lei, they’re so paper thin.”
By the turn of the century, the Bob-to-Rob transition had been essentially complete. No Major Leaguer has gone by Bob since journeyman reliever Bob Howry retired in 2010. There are dozens of Robs, Robbys and Bobbys currently in the Minors working their way up the ladder, but no Bobs to be found.
With a name like Ryder, practicing golf at a young is no accident. Ryan Carlson says, yes, his son’s name is inspired by the Ryder Cup, but he didn’t expect he’d be such a natural. Shortly after he began to walk, Ryder began swinging a plastic golf club, quickly learning how to hit balls.
From the book Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee (2004) by Mona Z. Smith:
Canada Lee was born in New York City on March 3, 1907, and christened with the mellifluous if somewhat daunting name of Leonard Lionel Cornelius Canegata.
[…]
The first time the leather-lunged [fight announcer Joe] Humphries got ready to introduce Lee, he looked down at his notes and saw a peculiar name: “Canegata, Lee.” Flummoxed by those alien syllables, Humphries tossed away the card with a snort and introduced the young fighter as “Canada Lee.”
Everybody liked the transmogrification, including Lee, and it stuck.
If you do a Google search for the name Bruno Banani, you will get the German underwear company of that name. But it’s also the name of the first Winter Olympian from Tonga. Born Fuahea Semi, the Tongan rugby player and luger went by Bruno Banani to court sponsorship from the company. It was part of a deal endorsed by the Tongan royal family to enable the athlete to afford training in Germany with the world’s best lugers. The company insinuated that the name was just a coincidence that led to the sponsorship, but that story unraveled quickly. It wasn’t “just” a hoax; Semi legally changed his name to Bruno Banani. The International Olympic Committee decided that even though using a sponsor’s name is in bad taste, Banani is the name on his passport, so he will be the lone athlete representing Tonga at Sochi in the luge event.
From a 2018 interview with basketball player LeBron James [vid]:
I still regret giving my 14-year-old my name […] When I was younger, obviously, I didn’t have a dad. So, my whole thing was, like, whenever I have a kid, not only is he gonna be a junior, but I’m gonna do everything that this man didn’t do. They’re gonna experience things that I didn’t experience, and the only thing I can do is give them the blueprint, and it’s up to them to take their own course.
(LeBron, Jr., is nicknamed “Bronny” — no doubt to differentiate son from father, but perhaps also to take some of the pressure off. Here’s a post about how LeBron James has affected baby names over the years.)
From a 1987 Sports Illustrated interview with basketball player Fennis Dembo:
With apologies to World B. Free, Shaquille O’Neal and, yes, even God Shammgod, when it comes to staking a claim to basketball’s alltime name, Fennis Dembo enjoys Jordanlike distance from the pretenders. “I’m always a bit stunned that people still remember me,” says Fennis, whose mother, Clarissa, selected his name, along with that of his twin sister, Fenise, as a declaration that after 11 children, her childbearing days were finis. “I tried to set up an E-mail account, but two other guys–basketball fans, I guess–were already using my name in their address.”
Maternity hospitals reported another 30 new-born babies named Diego Armando, raising the count to 140 so far.
(Maradona died in November of 2020. Soon after, the Naples city council unanimously voted to change the name of the city’s stadium from “Stadio San Paolo” to “Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.” (CBS Sports))
When St. Louisans Alyssa and Dan Hoven call out the name of their 3-year-old son in public, the heads around them instinctively turn.
“Oh my God yeah, so many times,” Alyssa said. “If we’re out to eat, we’ll be like, ‘Vladi’ or ‘Vlad,’ and people are like, ‘Did you name him after Vladimir Tarasenko?’ It starts a ton of conversations, and when we tell them ‘Yes, we did,’ they get all excited and scream, ‘Let’s go Blues!'”
From a 2016 article about babies being named after Maple Leafs players in the Toronto Sun:
Leaf great Ron Ellis still exchanges Christmas cards with a man who was named Ron Ellis Lucas in his honour for his play during the 1960s.
From an interview with Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Kyle Trask at Rivals.com:
Florida quarterback Kyle Trask returns Saturday to his home state of Texas, where he will play on the field he was named after.
His parents both went to Texas A&M, so he grew up an Aggies fan.
[…]
His father, Michael Trask, and mother, Melissa Charba, both attended the school in the late 1980’s. When they welcomed their second son on March 6, 1998, his first name came from A&M’s football stadium.
“My mom and dad were Aggies, so they named me after Kyle Field,” Trask revealed Monday. “My whole family is full of Aggies.”
From a 2014 article about high school basketball player Terance Mann in the Boston Globe:
The inevitable question that the Tilton School’s 6-foot-5-inch, 190-pound shooting guard has heard countless times before: Are you named after that Terence Mann?
“Most people think it’s from the movie ‘Field of Dreams,'” which featured a character portrayed by actor James Earl Jones, explained the junior, who, when not attending the boarding school in New Hampshire, lives in Lowell with his mother, Daynia La-Force, and 15-year-old brother, Martin. “But my grandma’s name is Terancia, and they named me after her.”
From an article about professional baseball player Nick Solak in the Dallas News:
Nick Solak is named after a sports bar.
[…]
Back in the 1980s, Nick’s Sports Page sat on the triangular plot of land where Chicago Road and Lincoln Avenue intersected in Dolton, Ill., one of those working-class suburbs on the South Side of Chicago. The exterior featured shaker shingles, chocolate-stained diagonal sheathing and baseball bats for door handles. On Feb. 5, 1985, it hosted Carlton Fisk Night, where patrons could meet the White Sox catcher, whose work ethic screamed South Sider, even if he actually grew up in New England.
Nobody recalls if South Siders Mark Solak or Roseann, née Pawlak, took home Fisk’s autograph, but they did take home each other’s phone numbers. Four years later, they were married. And when they were about to start a family in 1995, Nick — OK, officially, Nicholas — was the clear choice for a boy. They both liked the name. Plus, it had sentimental value as a nod to their South Side roots.
From an interview with Brazilian soccer player Oleúde José Ribeiro (translated from Portuguese):
Q: But, after all, is your name, Oleúde, inspired by Hollywood or not?
A: No, no, it was just a brilliant idea from my parents (laughs). Like it or not, this story always helped me, it drew the attention of reporters… the late Luciano do Valle always asked listeners to guess my name, saying that it was the capital of cinema, it had a lot of impact at the time. This Hollywood thing has become a legend, but it has nothing to do with it.
From an October 2022 episode of the Merloni, Fauria & Mego podcast, Patriots quarterback Bailey Zappe (born in 1999) answering a question about whether or not his mom had a crush on Bailey Salinger from Party of Five when she chose to name him after the character:
Her and my dad I guess were together, so I can’t — I don’t think she’ll publicly say she had a crush on him. … I think she said that she liked that he was the main character, I guess she was pregnant with me at the time, so … I guess that’s how I got the name.
From a post about distance swimmer Diana Nyad at the blog Having a Word:
On August 31 2013, record-breaking long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, aged 64, became the first person ever to swim the 110 miles of open water from Havana, Cuba, to Florida. She swam this distance in 53 hours and without the aid of a shark cage.
While this is a truly impressive feat of endurance and determination (this was her fifth attempt), what struck me was that with a name like Nyad she couldn’t have done anything else.
Nyad sounds like naiad – naiads in Greek mythology were water nymphs or spirits. That’s cute, I thought. Then I noticed that naiad is an anagram of her first name – Diana. Cue dramatic chords So, could this just be coincidence or is something else in play?
So the man named after Derek Jeter by his baseball-crazed mother — even though his father is a Red Sox fan — had never actually met Derek Jeter?
It finally happened last week in a random encounter on a road in South Florida — sort of.
“This last week, I was driving, me and my brother were driving to go to [the] train,” said Downs. “We’re in traffic. My brother sees this Range Rover pulling up. He was like, ‘Oh my God, is that Jeter?’ He honks and I wave at him.
“I’m doing training with Raul Ibanez, [Jeter’s former teammate]. I called Raul and said, ‘Tell [Derek] Jeter that the kid he was waving at was Jeter [Downs].’ So then he told him that and it was pretty cool that I met him that way.”
From a recent Miami Herald article about high school football player Rowdy Beers:
There’s buzz about Beers at FIU [Florida International University].
The buzz started when Panthers coach Mike MacIntyre announced on Dec. 21 that FIU had signed the player with “the best name in college football.”
That would be 6-5, 225-pound tight end and Colorado native Rowdy Beers, who is from Littleton, which is nine miles south. of downtown Denver.
[…]
“As a kid,” Beers said, “any time I told my name to a new authority figure, they thought I was being disrespectful.”
[…]
Beers, who was named after three-time Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Rowdy Gaines, had right shoulder surgery on Dec. 29 but is expected to be ready by mid-May.
(Rowdy Beers also has three R-named siblings: Rocky, Raegan, and Rylie. Rowdy Gaines, however, is only nicknamed “Rowdy.” He was born Ambrose Gaines IV in 1959 — the year the baby name Rowdy debuted in the U.S. baby name data thanks to Rawhide.)
Cale was named after Cale Hulse, who played for the Calgary Flames when [their father] Gary was doing some business with the team. Taylor is named after Colonel George Taylor of the Planet of the Apes movies, a take charge guy, portrayed by Charlton Heston, who was thrust into a leadership role. (Just for the record, Heston’s politics and ardent support of the National Rifle Association are not shared by the Makar family. “Oh my god, that’s the opposite of us,” Gary said.)
[Another source clarifies that Cale’s first name is short for Caleb. Cale noted in this interview [vid] that he was nearly named “Kurt Russell Makar, after the actor. […] I dodged a bullet there, I think.”]
From the book Why Soccer Matters (2015) by late soccer legend Pelé (born Edson Arantes do Nascimento):
When Dondinho met my mother, Celeste, he was still performing his mandatory military service. She was in school at the time. They married when she was just fifteen; by sixteen she was pregnant with me. They gave me the name “Edson” — after Thomas Edison, because when I was born in 1940, the electric lightbulb had only recently come to their town. They were so impressed that they wanted to pay homage to its inventor. It turned out they missed a letter — but I’ve always loved the name anyway.
(“Dondinho” was the nickname of Pelé’s father, João Ramos do Nascimento.)
…and, regarding the nickname Pelé:
Growing up, I hated that damn nickname. After all, it was a garbage word that meant nothing. Plus, I was really proud of the name Edson, believing it was an honor to be named after such an important inventor.
(The nickname did come in handy, though. He “started thinking of “Pelé” almost as a separate identity” in order to cope with his sudden celebrity. “Having Pelé around helped keep Edson sane,” he said.)
From an interview with Australian surfer Kyuss King in Stab Magazine:
Yeah, music is definitely a massive part of my life, from listening to it to playing it! And metal is 100% at the top of my genre — there’s nothing like headbanging to some chunky riffs. Yeah, I was named after the band Kyuss. It was my dad’s favorite band through the ’90s. Funny story, my dad actually had the song Green Machine blasting in the hospital while my mum was in labor with me haha. I guess I kinda came into the world to that kind of music.
From a 2022 article about baseball player Zebulon Vermillion in the New York Post:
Zebulon Vermillion, as he has to explain to just about everyone he meets, was born in Vail, Colo., not too far from the Rocky Mountains and a summit known as Pikes Peak. His parents, the outdoorsy type, read that the apex was named after Zebulon Pike, and it stuck with them.
Vermillion’s last name is Nordic and middle name — Cassis — French, after a fishing port in Southern France. His mother, who is trilingual, loves the city.
From an article about Dutch soccer player Denzel Dumfries, who helped the Netherlands knock the U.S. out of the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament:
[Denzel Dumfries] was named after none other than no-nonsense movie icon Denzel Washington, star of films such as “Remember The Titans,” “Training Day” and “Courage Under Fire.”
“I don’t have [any] connection with the United States, but, yes, I was named after Denzel Washington,” Dumfries said. “My parents gave me that name. I am incredibly proud of it, because Denzel Washington is a really strong personality who voices his views on certain issues, and I am incredibly proud to be named after someone like that.”
And finally, a bevy of B-names from basketball player Bradley Beal’s “About Brad” page:
Born on June 28, 1993, and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, by Bobby and Besta Beal, there was little doubt that Brad would eventually be an athlete. Both parents played sports for Kentucky State — Bobby was a football player, Besta a basketball player.
[…]
There were four other people in Brad’s family who were instrumental in his development as an athlete, and ultimately, as a young man. His two older brothers, Bruce and Brandon, and his younger brothers, the twins Byron and Bryon.
[Latest update: Oct. 2023]
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