The Beijing Games effect: Many Chinese have "Olympics" as their names

Who said what’s in the name? Ask those 7, 491 Chinese people who have named themselves or their kids after the Olympics or with the names of five creatures that are part of the 2008 Beijing Games mascot—Fuwa.

It has been reported that during and after 2000 when China was preparing to bid to host the now upcoming Beijing 2008 Games, around 3,491 people named themselves as “Aoyun”, which means Olympics. That’s not all!

The cute looking five creatures, Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying, and Ni Ni, that form the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games mascot called Fuwa, have such an indelible effect on the Chinese residents that many kept their names as their own.

And now, if anyone calls the name of these five creatures in China, it is expected that there will more than 4000 people who will come running around you looking for the people who called their names.

There is nothing weird in this. Names have great significance and meanings. People keep names for different reasons—some name their kids after political heroes, film stars and great personalities and after sports stars.

World’s best golf player Tiger Woods, too, has a poignant story behind his name. His father had named him after a Vietnam soldier whom he befriended with during that war.

In India where cricket is treated like a religion, many parents have kept the first name of the master blaster batsman Sachin Tendulkar as their son’s names. Same way you are bound to find many kids with Rahul as their name. This happened when Rahul Dravid, was considered the batting backbone of Indian cricket team. Now, the condition is so pathetic for that same man that he finds it tough to get a place in the playing 11 of Indian cricket team.

Go to any nation, one would definitely find many people who have been named after their parents favorite sports idols or there will those fanatic fans who have adopted their favorite sport stars names in order to show their respect for those players.