Baby fever has combined with World Cup fever in one South American country, with hundreds of newborns being named after one of the tournament’s most feared strikers.
In Peru, more than 500 babies have been named after Norway’s hulking goalscorer, Erling Haaland, according to figures published by the country’s national registry.
In total, 468 newborns were named Haaland, while 91 received the name Erling Haaland.
The 6-foot-5 Scandinavian center forward’s full name of Erling Braut Haaland was used for four newborns.
‘Different football stars serve as inspiration for Peruvians to register their children with these names,’ Ivan Torres, a spokesperson for the country’s national registry, told Panamericana TV.
He added that the frequency of name registrations had ballooned as Norway advanced in the tournament, joking that ‘Haaland is Peruvian too.’
But according to the figures collected by Peruvian authorities, Haaland still lagged far behind the World Cup’s best known icons when it came to inspiring baby names.
Brazil’s Neymar topped the list, with 33,812 newborns being named after the renown dribbler, who looks set to retire from international duty after a disappointing tournament.
More than 500 newborns in Peru have been named after the 6-foot-5 Norway striker Erling Haaland, per the country’s national registry
468 babies were named Haaland, 91 were named Erling Haaland and four were named Erling Braut Haaland (Photo of a baby in a Norway kit)
However, Peruvian authorities said that Brazilian star Neymar topped the list, with 33,812 newborns being named after him
He narrowly beat Cristiano Ronaldo, whose name inspired 31,634 newborns being named Ronaldo, 1,185 newborns receiving his entire name and a sole baby receiving his nickname of ‘Bicho.’
Then, Argentina’s Lionel Messi inspired the name of 28,390 Peruvian babies.
He faced off against Spain’s star, Lamine Yamal, whose second part of his first name inspired 1,241 Yamals in Peru.
One of the biggest examples of World Cup craze impacting baby fever happened after the 1986 edition in Mexico, which was dominated by Argentine legend Diego Maradona.
Before that tournament, just between 1 and 1.5 percent of babies were named Diego, according to Business Insider.
But during the week of the final, which Argentina won, that figure jumped to 5.5 percent.
Following the 2014 World Cup, another one of Argentina’s legends made headlines when his name was used for the first time for a newborn.
That September, Hector Varela of the southern city of General Roca received permission to name his son Messi Daniel Varela, according to Reuters.
Messi had led Argentina to the World Cup final just months prior, though his team came up short against Germany.
The newborn Messi’s parents had to receive permission from city authorities because of a 1969 law forbidding the use of surnames as first names.
‘There are many parents who named their children Lionel after Messi, but this is even more resounding,’ Varela said, according to local outlet Rosarionet.
Cristiano Ronaldo has also inspired baby names. In Peru, more than 32,000 newborns received some version of his name, according to authorities
Whenever the World Cup rolls around, a minority of babies tends to be named after the tournament’s top stars
Some of the countries to have named babies after soccer stars include Argentina, Brazil and Peru
He also has a five-year-old daughter that would have been named after the Inter Miami player had she been a boy.
‘At last, thanks to God, Messi arrived,’ Varela said, per Reuters.
Varela might have proved to be ahead of the curve, as names in honor of Messi exploded following the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
That December, one of every 70 babies in the province of Santa Fe, where Messi was born, was named in his honor after Argentina’s World Cup win that year, according to Argentinian outlet La Capital.
Boys received his name, Lionel, while girls received the slightly modified Lionela.
Around that same time, newborns were also named after some of Argentina’s other players.
That included Julián for Atlético Madrid forward Julián Alvarez and Emiliano for Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, but none were as popular as Messi, according to Infobae.
As Argentina won the 2022 World Cup, names in honor of Lionel Messi in his home province of Santa Fe ballooned
That December, one of every 70 babies born in the province was named after Messi, with boys receiving the name Lionel and girls receiving the name Lionela
Diego Maradona’s heroics at the 1986 World Cup, which was won by Argentina, caused newborns to be named after him
Further north, in Brazil, newborns have also been known to take on unusual names after soccer stars.
In March 2024, Zidane Henry Carvalho Sousa Corrêa was born in Roraima, Brazil, according to Globo.
His father, Charles Corrêa, explained that the inspiration for the newborn’s name, in homage of Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane, went back to the 1998 World Cup.
The dad watched the tournament as a child and made up his mind then that he would feature Zidane’s name whenever he had a son.
The baby’s mother, Kailanny Ferreira, admitted that the name was initially a ‘little hard’ because she did not know the players but that she was ‘starting to accept it’ after watching videos about them.
But in a country as soccer crazy as Brazil, plenty of other babies have also taken on the names of stars.
Brazil’s national census in 2022 found that 50,538 people were named Romário, paying tribute to the 1994 World Cup-winning striker. That name peaked in the 1990s, Globo reported.
Then, in an unusual turn given the historic rivalry between Brazil and Argentina, 31,684 Brazilians were named Riquelme, or variants of that, after Argentine playmaker Juan Román Riquelme.
The census also counted 2,443 Neymars, 1,582 Taffarels, 711 Zidanes, 582 Zicos, 363 Messis, 247 Bebetos, 187 Ronaldinhos, 128 Maradonas, 121 Kakás, 100 Platinis and 75 Pelés.
Beyond the World Cup, Turkish couple Ali and Zehra Ay named their newborn son Mauro Icardi, after the Argentine striker who plays for their favorite team
In March 2024, a Brazilian dad named his son Zidane Henry Carvalho Sousa Corrêa, paying homage to French stars Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane
In some countries, the soccer craze is so intense that it does not take the World Cup for a baby to receive a player-inspired name.
For instance, Turkish couple Ali and Zehra Ay named their baby after Argentine striker Mauro Icardi, who plays for their favorite team, Galatasaray.
The baby was officially registered in September 2024 as Umut Halil Icardi, with his mother saying that ‘naming him after Icardi was a natural choice,’ according to Daily Sabah.
His older brother, 13-year-old Kivanç Ay, said: ‘Some people thought it was a joke and reacted, but we went ahead with it.’
However, other attempts around the world to name babies after popular soccer players have gone awry.
In 2019, a family judge in the French town of Brive-la-Gaillarde did not allow a couple to name their son Griezmann Mbappe, according to The Guardian.
That name would have been a combination of France’s 2018 World Cup winning stars, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé, but it was eventually changed to Dany Noe.
A local official had said the child’s original name was ‘contrary to [his] interest’ and referred the unusual case to the public prosecutor.
