As the world mourned the loss of football legend Pele in 2022, his legacy lived on in the names of 738 Peruvian babies registered that year.
According to Peru’s National Registry of Identification and Civil Status, these children were given the names Pele, King Pele, Edson Arantes, or Edson Arantes do Nascimento, honoring the Brazilian star’s full name.
However, while Pele may have passed away, he was not the most popular famous name chosen by Peruvian parents. That title belonged to Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, with 31,583 babies named either Ronaldo or his full name.
Football remained a prominent theme among Peruvian baby names, with 371 babies named Leo Messi or Messi in honor of the Argentine World Cup champion, and 229 babies named Mbappe or Kylian Mbappe for the French star.
The influence of pop culture was also evident, with 733 babies named Mavericks after Tom Cruise’s character in the Top Gun sequel released in 2022.
On the list of female names, Rubi topped the list with 24,980, followed by 1,787 baby girls named for Colombian singer Shakira.
There were also 250 Merlinas, named after the character Wednesday Addams, known as Merlina in some Latin American countries, who got her own spinoff series on Netflix in 2022.
Among the more unique names, one child was named for billionaire Elon Musk, while another was christened Qatar, after the host country for the 2022 World Cup.
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Joseph Omoniyi
- Tags: Pele
