Norwegian striker Erling Haaland was already an international megastar, but the World Cup has quickly elevated him to legendary status. He’s gotten so big, in fact, that, according to reports from Agence France-Presse, hundreds of Peruvian parents have decided the best way to celebrate Norway’s incredible run, led by a guy who is in no way, shape, or form Peruvian, was to name their newborns after him.
Haaland scored seven goals and led Norway to its first-ever quarterfinal appearance during the 2026 World Cup. He and the rest of the Norwegian squad helped eliminate Brazil, one of the towering powerhouses of international soccer, cementing him as one of the tournament’s defining players and one of the sport’s biggest stars.
Erling Haaland’s World Cup Heroics Have Created a Baby Name Boom in Peru
According to Peru’s National Registry of Identification and Civil Status, 468 newly registered Peruvians will now have the surname Haaland as a first name, while another 91 children went even further, being registered with the full name Erling Haaland. Registry officials say most of those registrations came after the World Cup kicked off, but the numbers were climbing steadily alongside Norway’s advancement through the tournament.
Even wilder is that none of this is new. Peru takes its soccer legends so seriously that more than 33,809 Peruvians were named after Neymar, the Brazilian superstar. There are 3,402 Peruvians named Messi and 292 with the full legal name Lionel Messi. Cristiano Ronaldo has inspired the names of 1,185 babies. At just 19 years old, Spain’s Lamine Yamal, who will be playing in his first World Cup final this coming Sunday, has already had his name given to 1,241 Peruvian babies.
Futbol is life for many around the world, but for Peruvians, it’s so important that pesky little things like legacy and family history can be rather easily tossed aside in favor of honoring a guy who doesn’t even represent your country yet is worth naming your child after because he can kick a ball real good.
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