What's In a Name?

I posted this over at my DanShanoff.com blog, but I realized it was much more relevant over here. Here's a re-post:

I'm as entertained by the Scott Wiese story as everyone else: He was the Bears fan who was so convinced that his team would win the Super Bowl that he vowed he would legally change his name to "Peyton Manning" if the Bears lost. Now he's a national sensation. A performance artist couldn't have pulled it off any more effectively.

Here's the question/topic for discussion: I'm not going to ask if there's an athlete you'd change your entire legal name for, but do you have a favorite athlete who you would consider naming your kid after? (For the sake of argument, let's say your partner defers to your decision.) Or, more interestingly, have you done that for real?

This came up briefly during the old ESPN.com chats I hosted when my wife was pregnant, because among the chat audience, the top contender for what the kid's name would be was "Noah," after Joakim. (No, not "Joakim" itself. Thought that WOULD be kind of badass. Joakim Shanoff? Um... maybe not.)

-- D.S.

PS: We ended up going with "Gabe." Not for any particular athlete (he was named for my wife's maternal grandmother), but if you're going to associate him with the most notable athlete named Gabe -- Gabe Kapler -- I won't complain. Jewish MLB player? I'll take it!