Though the Dodgers are forever embedded in baseball history, some parents are making extra certain they also prevail in the future — by naming their children after the Boys in Blue.
“Bout 250 Mexican kids in 10 years gonna have to explain why they named Shohei Rodriguez,” one viral post on X quipped after Shohei Ohtani hit three home runs, pitched six shutout innings and struck out 10 Brewers in the NLCS-clinching game. The prediction may not be so far off: Nameberry, the world’s largest baby naming site, saw a 1,000% increase in searches on the name Shohei just this week.
From Shohei Ohtani to Clayton Kershaw to Freddie Freeman — all have inspired namesakes. And who knows? With the Dodgers on the verge of etching their legacy with a possible third title in six years, this baby boom of sorts may be in its infancy. Here, parents share their kids’ Dodgers-inspired names — and the stories behind them.
Freddie Berglund
Named after Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman
Freddie Freeman’s legendary walk-off grand slam for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series was so powerful it prompted this fellow to make his debut into the world a couple of weeks early.
“After [Freeman] hit the grand slam, we probably had, like, 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 win over the New York Yankees.
Jessica and Erik Berglund, who live in Orange just around where Freeman grew up, are star-crossed lovers in MLB terms, with Jessica bleeding Dodgers blue and Erik cheering on the Angels. But the meaning behind Freddie’s name extends beyond field and rivalry.
“We really look up to Freddie [Freeman] as a person, not only as a baseball player,” Jessica said. “So it’s not only 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 will be the family’s rookie of the year.
Alita Hyenee Yang
Named after Shohei Ohtani
At eight months pregnant, Emma Chiu couldn’t wait till the end of their infancy CPR class to let her husband, Daniel Yang, know that Shohei Ohtani was going to sign with the Dodgers. As soon as she shoved the phone on his face, Yang’s excitement overtook his emotions and he completely forgot he was in a class.
The couple, who live in San Diego, had been following the career of Ohtani since he played for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in the Japanese professional baseball league. When he signed with the Angels in 2018, Yang, an L.A. native, begrudgingly went to the games with his wife just to catch their favorite player on the diamond.
On the drive from the CPR class, they toyed with the idea of giving their soon-to-be-born daughter a middle named inspired by one of they Boys in Blue, while also honoring their cultural background of Korean and Taiwanese. 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 to be a perfect fit. “This is like fate,” Yang said.
Jack
Named after Jackie Robinson
Growing up as a Dodgers fan in Modesto, an area typically designated for the San Francisco Giants, had its tough moments for Ryan C.
“I’ve had a couple of sodas chucked 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 tribute to the team he grew up cheering for. At first, he leaned toward Clayton Kershaw, the left-handed two-time World Series champion pitcher, but decided against it after he read a Reddit post on 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.)
So instead, he decided to name his son Jack after Jackie Robinson. Any time Ryan starts to tell his NorCal friends the story of the Dodgers-inspired name, he hears groans. But the attitude changes as soon as they hear the name pays tribute to Robinson, the Hall of Famer who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947.
Of Robinson, Ryan said, “Fundamentally, he’s always going to be a ballplayer, the most important ballplayer, the one whose number is universally retired. And the only one, in my opinion, whose number should ever be permanently retired in that way.”
Clayton Wasser
Named after Clayton Kershaw
Clayton Kershaw may be retiring, but his name lives on in history — and through 9-year-old Clayton Wasser.
The kid comes from “a big Kershaw house,” according to Clayton’s father, Jeremy, and they’ll all be cheering as the Dodgers take on the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series at the end of Kershaw’s final season.
Jeremy and his wife, Michelle, have long been in awe of Kershaw’s character and success, both on and off the field.
“He’s so impressive as an individual,” Jeremy said. “I mean, his achievements on the field speak for themselves. But then, you know, we’ve also followed his, his philanthropic career … and he’s always represented the city and the team with class and dignity.”
Clayton Wasser, whose older brother Harrison plays baseball, has taken more of a liking to playing soccer, but would still ask, “Am I pitching tonight?” on Dodgers game days, says his father.
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 dinger by Mookie Betts literally named his daughter.
In 2023, Mancuso started a conversation with Betts while he was on deck. It was the first time they ever exchanged words but the man from the stands promised the infielder he’d name his daughter Mookie if he hit a homer.
“I turned around and told him, ‘No, don’t do that, man,’” Betts said in his telling of the story in an X post. “Your wife wouldn’t like that.”
During his plate appearance against the then-Oakland A’s pitcher Hogan Harris, Betts turned on a pitch to hit a 436-foot home run. At the time, the long ball was his farthest hit as a Dodgers. After rounding the bases, Betts fist-bumped Mancuso, and that was that.
Weeks later, Betts came across a tweet that read: “Hey @Dodgers @mookiebetts @SportsNetLA a bet is a bet. Meet Francesca Mookie Mancuso” with a picture of the newborn and her birth certificate.
“Shout out to you, Giuseppe, I can’t wait to meet Francesca,” Betts said in his video.
Talk about taking a long shot.