If there's one arena that may have been kind of neglected in the nameberry search for cool namesakes, it would probably be the wide, wide world of sports.
There are a couple of explanations for this. Number One is the fact that so many star athletes were known by nicknames — Mickey and Ricky, Babe, Dizzy, Yogi, Catfish, Satchel, Tiger, ad infinitum.
Beyond that, most of the others have had standard-issue jock names and known by their diminutives — Bill, Willie, Charlie, and Jack and Jim and Tim and Tom and Ted.
But we've dug through the archives and managed to come up with the following group of more out-of-the-ordinary monikers:
Amos Alonzo Stagg — early football coach, an innovator in college football
Aurealius Thomas — in the College Football Hall of Fame
Banks McFadden — excelled in football, basketball and track, voted the Associated Press's 'Athlete of the Year' in 1939
Bibb Falk — played for the Chicago White Sox
Bowie Kuhn — Major League Baseball commissioner
Brooks Robinson — a third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles for 23 years
Burleigh Grimes (nn 'Ol' Stubblebeard') — Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher
Carney Lansford — Major League third baseman and then coach
Dorne Dibble — wide receiver for the Detroit Lions
Early Wynn (nn Gus) — pitcher inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
Ferguson Jenkins — another Baseball Hall of Famer, also played basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters
Fisher DeBerry — legendary U.S. Air Force Academy football coach
Franco Harris — played football for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks
Holland Donan — college football defensive tackle
Nile Kinnick — won the 1939 Heisman Trophy
Paavo Nurmi — Finnish track star, outstanding long-distance runner of his time
Parry (born Patrick) O'Brien — American shot-put champion
Rafer Johnson — Olympic decathlete
Ryne Sandberg — Chicago Cubs second baseman, named after pitcher Ryne Duren
Slade Cutter — in the College Football Hall of Fame
Slater Martin (nn 'Dugie') — one of the NBA's best defensive players in the 1950s
Thane (born Walter Thane) Baker — Olympic gold medalist runner
Valmy Thomas — Major League catcher
Yale (born Robert Yale) Lary — played football for the Detroit Lions
Zebulon (Zeb) Terry — early (1916-22) Major League baseball player
Nameberry is a baby-naming site produced by Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz, co-authors of 10 bestselling baby name guides, including the newest, "Beyond Ave and Aiden: The Enlightened Guide to Naming Your Baby." Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.