LeBron: not yet
Kobe: yeah, pretty much
Shaquille: maybe
Jordan: sure, but how can you tell?
At True Hoop, sportswriter Harry Abbott poked around the Social Security Administration's name database, trying to find any discernable trends of people naming their kids after basketball players.
Some friends of ours named their kid Julius, but I think they chose it for its old school Jew charm, not it's old school NBA charm. Still, if their kid ends up bedding 20,000 women, I'm prepared to be corrected.
The 2007 TrueHoop NBA Baby Name Popularity Contest [truehoop via kottke]
Perhaps Dr. J. had that kind of charisma as well, but it was Wilt who managed to work the 20K claim into one of his biographies. Perhaps the SSA numbers show a spike in little Wilton Normans wandering around out there.
[d'oh, of course. well, best of luck to little Julius anyway. -ed.]
with a name like Wilt perhaps he felt he had something to prove....
Mark my words - 'Dirk' is making a comeback!