At first I thought it was a joke. Then, I figured that someone lost a bet. Or, perhaps, they simply lost their mind. Later, I discovered all of my assumptions were wrong. What I thought was rumor was in fact truth: a baby boy born to an avid sports fan in Biloxi, Mississippi a few days ago was given the name: ESPN. That’s right, ESPN, as in the sports network.
According to a local newspaper, Leann Real promised her husband—a self-professed sports fanatic–that if they ever had a son he’d get to pick the name. Hence, the name: ESPN Montana Real. Rusty Real chose ESPN (pronounced Espen) after the sports network and Montana after football legend Joe Montana.
“We were the talk of the hospital,” Rusty Real told local reporters. “The nurses kept asking my wife if she was really going to let her husband name him ESPN. She said, ‘Oh, yes.'”
But, here’s what I think is the kicker to this entire story—baby ESPN isn’t alone. According to a 2005 report on tivocommunity.com about the network’s 25th anniversary, at least three other boys share the unique name. They are Espn Malachi McCall in Pampa, Texas; Espn Curiel in Corpus Christi, Texas; and Espn Blondeel in Michigan.
As for the wives who allowed their husbands to brand their children with the name ESPN, well, that’s fodder for another blog (perhaps, one in the mental health category). I don’t how you decided to name your child, but I can’t imagine it was a unilateral decision. So what possessed these couples to name their children after an all sports network? Who knows… and yes, I realize these children could have suffered a worse fate, but I can hear the taunting by fellow classmates already. And to think when I was in school my classmates and I thought a boy named “Corigan” was strange (the name, not the boy).
Do you know a child with an unusual name? What is it?
Related Articles: