Although the Dodgers are forever ingrained in baseball history, some parents are making sure they carry it into the future as well – by naming their children after the Boys in Blue.
“About 250 Mexican kids in 10 years will have to explain why they named Shohei Rodriguez,” joked a viral article on The prediction may not be that far off: Nameberry, the world’s largest baby name site, saw a 1,000% increase in searches for the name Shohei this week.
From Shohei Ohtani to Clayton Kershaw to Freddie Freeman, everyone has inspired namesakes. And who knows? With the Dodgers poised to cement their legacy with a possible third title in six years, this baby boom of sorts may still be in its infancy. Here, parents share their kids’ Dodgers-inspired names — and the stories behind them.
Freddie Berglund
Named for Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman.
The Legend of Freddie Freeman Dead end Grand Slam for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series was so powerful that it prompted this man to make his World Series debut a few weeks early.
“After [Freeman] “I hit the grand slam, we probably had a few minutes of celebration, and then my water broke,” said Jessica Berglund, Freddie’s mother.
Freddie, legally named Frederick, was born after the legendary moment that helped the Dodgers to a 6-3 victory over the New York Yankees.
Jessica and Erik Berglund, who live in Orange, near where Freeman grew up, are star-crossed lovers in MLB terms, with Jessica bleeding Dodgers blue and Erik cheering for the Angels. But the meaning of Freddie’s name goes beyond the field and the rivalry.
“We really admire Freddie [Freeman] as a person, not just as a baseball player,” Jessica said. “So it’s not just about the love of the game and the team. It’s really the love for Freddie as a person.
Baby Freddie turns 1 on Sunday, and at his baseball-themed birthday party, he’ll be the family’s Rookie of the Year.
Alita Hyenee Yang
Named after Shohei Ohtani
Eight months pregnant, Emma Chiu couldn’t wait until their early childhood CPR class was over to let her husband, Daniel Yang, know that Shohei Ohtani was going to sign with the Dodgers. As soon as she put the phone in his face, Yang’s excitement took over his emotions and he completely forgot he was in class.
The couple, who live in San Diego, had followed Ohtani’s career since he played for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan’s professional baseball league. When he signed with the Angels in 2018, Yang, a Los Angeles native, reluctantly went to games with his wife just to see their favorite player on the field.
Coming home from CPR class, they had the idea of giving their soon-to-be-born daughter a name inspired by one of the Boys in Blue, while honoring their Korean and Taiwanese cultural origins. What they did was take the last syllables of Ohtani’s first and last name to create Hyenee (pronounced Hey-Nee), which they used for their daughter’s middle name.
The name seemed a perfect fit. “It’s like destiny,” Yang said.
Jack
Named after Jackie Robinson
Growing up as a Dodgers fan in Modesto, an area usually designated for the San Francisco Giants, Ryan C fell on hard times.
“I had a few sodas thrown at me walking through parking lots because of my Dodgers gear,” he said.
Yet when it came time to name his son, he knew he wanted to pay homage to the team he grew up cheering for. At first, he leaned toward Clayton Kershaw, the two-time World Series champion left-handed pitcher, but decided against it after reading a Reddit post about the risks of naming a child after a living person. (“You don’t know where they’re going to go in their life,” Ryan explained.)
Instead, he decided to name his son Jack after Jackie Robinson. Every time Ryan starts telling his NorCal friends the story of the Dodgers-inspired name, he hears groans. But the attitude changes as soon as they hear that the name honors Robinson, the Hall of Famer who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947.
Of Robinson, Ryan said: “Fundamentally, he will always be a baseball player, the most important baseball player, the one whose number is universally retired. And the only one, in my opinion, whose number should be permanently retired in this way.”
Clayton Wasser
Named after Clayton Kershaw
Clayton Kershaw could be outgoingbut his name lives on in history – and through 9-year-old Clayton Wasser.
The kid comes from a “big house in Kershaw,” according to Clayton’s father, Jeremy, and they’ll all be cheering him on as the Dodgers. face the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series at the end of Kershaw’s final season.
Jeremy and his wife, Michelle, have long been impressed by Kershaw’s character and success, both on and off the field.
“He’s so impressive as an individual,” Jeremy said. “I mean, his accomplishments on the field speak for themselves. But you know, we’ve also followed his philanthropic career… and he always represented the city and the team with class and dignity.”
Clayton Wasser, whose older brother Harrison plays baseball, enjoys playing football more, but he would always ask himself, “Do I pitch tonight?” on Dodgers game days, his father said.
Francesca Mookie Mancuso
Named after Mookie Betts
Sometimes a home run can be more than just a statistic. In the case of Giuseppe Mancuso, a Mookie Betts dinger literally named his daughter.
In 2023, Mancuso struck up a conversation with Betts while on deck. It was the first time they had exchanged words, but the man in the stands promised the infielder that he would name his daughter Mookie if he hit a home run.
“I turned around and told him, ‘No, don’t do that, man,'” Betts said, recounting the story in an X-post. “Your wife wouldn’t like that.”
In his plate appearance against then-Oakland A’s pitcher Hogan Harris, Betts spun around on a pitch to hit a 436-foot home run. At the time, the long ball was his furthest shot as a Dodgers. After rounding the bases, Betts hit Mancuso with his fist, and that was that.
A few weeks later, Betts came across a tweet that read, “Hey @Dodgers @mookiebetts @SportsNetLA a bet’s a bet. Meet Francesca Mookie Mancuso” along with a photo of the newborn and his birth certificate.
“I salute you, Giuseppe, I look forward to meeting Francesca,” Betts said in his video.
Talk about taking a photo from afar.
