Messi doesn’t sound like the best of first names. It’s actually become quite popular when it comes to naming dogs where I come from. Back to the point, Lionel Messi is so big that people are naming some of their kids after his last name. In the city of Rosario in Argentina, his hometown, it’s now prohibited to name a child after the best footballer in the world.
One Argentine man named his son Messi Varela, and that caused the city council to prohibit further use of Messi’s name as a first name. It makes a bit of sense because this might create a Messi Messi situation, because this is the city where Messi’s come from. It might also create something of a confusing situation in a classroom, as quite a few people wouldn’t mind naming their child after their idol.
To Hector Varela, who managed to squeeze his son in just before the prohibition, it doesn’t matter: I’m proud of being ‘the first Argentine to put your baby to name the best player in the world’ according to Mundo Deportivo.
While teams around the world in a lot of different sports retire a number or jersey, prohibiting it from ever being used again by someone on that team, the city of Rosario, where Lionel Messi grew up until going overseas to play for Barcelona at the age of 13, retired his name, which might be an even bigger honor.