Across South America, a legion of pint-sized Kylians and Neymars will be following the fortunes of the stars to whom they owe their names when the World Cup kicks off on Thursday.
But in a year’s time, depending on which players shine, expectant parents may be leaning towards Lamine (Yamal, Spain), Ousmane (Dembele, France), Harry (Kane, England) or Vitinha (Portugal).
In Ecuador, which is taking part in its fifth World Cup, the most popular footballers’ names are not those of local stars such as Kendry Paez or Willian Pacho, a two-time Champions League winner with Paris Saint Germain.
Instead, it is Brazil’s all time record scorer Neymar, playing at his fourth and probably last World Cup, who tops the board, with 3,847 namesakes, the country’s civil registry said Wednesday.
Kylian Mbappe, the wunderkind who led France to victory at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, is second, with over 2,800 children bearing his name, ahead of James (Rodriguez, Colombia’s captain), in third with 2,136 nods.
Argentine and Portuguese greats Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo also have (their first and last) names writ large in Ecuadorian family history.
The country boasts 1,549 little Lionels, 38 Messis, 178 Cristianos and 1,006 Ronaldos.