A baby-naming boom inspired by Knicks players is most likely on the way after the team’s historic N.B.A. championship win, baby-naming consultants say.
Names like Jalen (Brunson), Joshua (Hart), Miles (McBride) and Tyler (Kolek) are already popular and rank among the top 1,000 names for boys born in the United States, with Landry (Shamet) rising fast, according to data from the Social Security Administration. However, Pamela Redmond, the creator and chief executive of Nameberry, a baby- naming website, predicted a surge in interest, not only because of the team’s success, but the likability of the players and the unity the city showed in supporting the team.
“I think what’s happened, not just New York but nationally, is that people are just galvanized by the show of community, which feels like something that’s increasingly important at a time when it’s increasingly rare,” she said.
Mr. Brunson is the team captain and was voted the most valuable player of the N.B.A. finals. He could become the next Michael Jordan of baby names, Ms. Redmond said, with parents adopting his first and last names as first names for their babies.
She said that there were nine baby boys named Brunson in 2025, and she expected to see more girls given the name or some variation of it. But, she said, hopefully not “Brunsina.”
That’s what Jeremy Werden, 29, of Manhattan, joked on TikTok that he had named his daughter: “Jalen Brunsina Hart Bridges OG Kat Alvarado Shamet Robinson McBride Clarkson.”
Her name is actually Vivian Rose, and she was born at Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side on Friday — the day before the Knicks won the championship. Staff members at the hospital gave her a newborn hat with a Knicks logo attached.
Though Vivian shares part of her name with the Knicks’ team president, Leon Rose, Mr. Werden said he and his wife, Kate Werden, had planned for months to name their daughter Vivian after her great-grandmother. But he said the coincidence was beautiful.
Mr. Rose, he noted, is credited with putting together a great team. “So, I don’t know, I thought it was fun and special, and kind of was a confirmation of the name.”
Ms. Redmond and Colleen Slagen, who runs the site Naming Bebe, said it takes a very specific recipe for celebrity names to become popular. Some names, like LeBron James, Princess Diana and Oprah Winfrey never took off because they were too specific to a single person, they said. But others like Carmelo (Anthony), Iker (Casillas), and David (Beckham) have risen on the fame of their bearers, Ms. Redmond added.
“Jalen” has the potential to take off because many of the people associated with it have a positive reputation, and it has been widely exposed through the finals, Ms. Slagen said. (She added that she met a young Mr. Brunson when she was a manager of the University of Virginia’s men’s basketball team and his father, Rick Brunson, was the director of basketball operations.)
The name Jalen first became popular in the 1990s. Last year, 711 newborns were named Jalen, according to the Social Security Administration. But the name peaked in 2000, with 3,513 babies given the name, the agency’s naming database shows. That year, Jalen Rose helped the Indiana Pacers reach the N.B.A. finals for the first time in 25 years. Mr. Brunson, who was born in 1996, was named after Mr. Rose, who played with his father.
Now there are many Jalens in the N.B.A. Some might say too many.
Rainey Ovalle, the co-host of “Victory Light with The Kid Mero,” a comedy and cultural podcast, posted a music video in March poking fun at the number of Jalens in the N.B.A., dubbing it “the Jalen invasion.” In an interview on Monday, he joked that the Knicks would make his video go viral again “every nine months for the next 15 years.”
“When that time comes, I will be waiting on my royalties,” he said.
Mr. Ovalle, a Dominican from the Bronx, predicted that Dominican parents would give their children Knicks names with Spanish inflections, adding y’s and o’s to get variations like “Jalon.”
If he were expecting a child, Mr. Ovalle said, he would avoid Jalen and choose a name like Ogugua Anunoby Jr., who is known by his nickname, “OG.” In American slang, “OG” is short for “original gangster.” The term originated in gang culture, but is now used more widely to describe a person who is well respected.
“Being an OG straight out the womb is hilarious,” Mr. Ovalle said.
While Knicks players might inspire a baby-naming boom, the San Antonio Spurs, their finals opponents, most likely won’t, the experts said. Victor Wembanyama’s first name, while already popular, is old-fashioned and not universally loved, Ms. Slagen said. She said she has friends who want to honor their family by naming their baby Victor, but they are considering shortening it to “Tor.”
Caitlyn Freeman contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
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