471 babies in Peru named after Neymar during 2014 World Cup

July 27, 2014 • • min read

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471 of new-born babies in Peru were named in honour of Brazil and Barcelona star Neymar during the first two weeks of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

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According to a report by Peru's National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (RENIEC), 455 babies were registered with the name of "Neymar", while another 16 new-borns were named "Neimar".

For comparison, in the same period of time, 140 babies were named "Lionel", with another 239 registered as "Leonel" - presumably also after Argentina's Lionel Messi.

In addition, 123 babies were baptised with the name James, in relation to the Colombian Rodríguez, whose name is usually pronounced as it sounds in Spanish and not as it would with the English pronunciation in South America.

There were also new-borns named after Cristiano Ronaldo - 41 with Cristiano and 23 with Ronaldo - and Arjen Robben - 23 with Arjen and 23 with Robben.