ESPN is all the rage........as a baby name?

[sahyder1]

Associated Press

PAMPA, Texas -- A Texas couple who named their son ESPN after the cable sports network will soon be getting a visit from the toddler's namesake.

An ESPN film crew is coming to this Panhandle town next month to interview the family of 2-year-old ESPN Malachi McCall for a feature on several children around the country named after the network.

ESPN (pronounced Espen) McCall is one of at least three children in the United States known to be named for the sports network. A couple in Corpus Christi named their son Espn Curiel in 2000, the same year Espen Blondeel was born in Michigan.

ESPN spokesman Dave Nagle said the feature will air Sept. 6 as part of a two-hour special celebrating the network's 25th anniversary. The special focuses on the company's history, growth and impact.

"We don't have viewers. We have fans," Nagle said Saturday. "And I guess there's no better testament than when someone names their child after your product. It just shows the bond we have with people."

Rebecca and Michael McCall said their son's name started as a joke after they heard on the radio about another couple naming their son "Espen."

"He looked at me and said, 'That's a cool name,'" Rebecca McCall said in Saturday's editions of the Amarillo Globe-News.

So.....would you name your kid after something you liked or followed? I mean, Espen is a name (ESPN's favorite hockey player ESPeN Knutsen for one). What's next? Am I the only one that thinks you'll soon have corporate sponsors naming kids? How about a kid named Nike next? I know this isn't corporate sponsorship but you know there is some idiot out there who'd do it.

[Lowerdeck]

I can't remember, but some New Yorker tried to sell his kid's naming rights. No takers.

I think some company once tried to do it. Can't remember when or who.

EDIT: Two Texans and a Michigan-person. I'm surprised someone down way in Bristol hasn't gone retarded from satellite waves and named a kid Esp(e)n yet.

But seriously, I'd rather not see the corporations start naming people. This isn't Jennifer Government.

Edited June 27, 2004 by Lowerdeck

[gunnar hendershow]

Poor kid, he'll be tortured by his peers until the day he dies.

[Cactus Drags]

How about a kid named Nike next?

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Niké was the greek goddess of victory, so naming a kid that isn't necessarily weird corporate sponsorship or anything. Not really...

So long as the name isn't completely retarded, like Coca-Cola Smith or Nintendo Jones, it's not so bad.

EDIT: I just read it back, and Nintendo Jones is a damn cool name.

Edited June 27, 2004 by dragon27

[sahyder1]

Yeah, ok. Nike was a bad example. How about Adidas? Pepsi? Coke?

[Lowerdeck]

EDIT: I just read it back, and Nintendo Jones is a damn cool name.

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I thought the same thing when I originally read it.

[matbar]

Whats next? A kid named MSN, or better yet, Microsoft

[Guest Mr McFarlane]

Whats next? A kid named MSN, or better yet, Microsoft

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Why must you make fun of my name? :'(

[sean270674]

I was thing of call my first born CNN

[Hellfire]

i dunno, i think that those kids parents secretly hate them, and are doing it so they can get laughed at and beat up. Why cant their parents give them good names, like Thor the Destroyer or even better, Super Motherfuckin Dragon? Those would own any other names.

[Guest Power Trip]

Fox Sports Net so has to hire there kids to contracts and put them on Fox Sports shows when they get old enough. But the corporate sponsorship has already begun. Some lady tried to sell her son's naming rights on eBay. Nobody bid.