It's better than being named Boston I guess

China continues to impress as we get closer and closer to the Olympic Games. It seems that almost 3,500 Chinese kids have the name "Olympics." That may seem a little ridiculous, but so what. A lot of American celebrities give their kids ridiculous names as well. Although maybe not quite as bad as Olympics.

But the fun thing is that kids aren't just getting named after the Olympics. Not at all. They're also being named after the Olympic mascots. The names are Bei Bei (880 people), Jing Jing (1,240), Huan Huan (1,063), Ying Ying (624) and Ni Ni (642). When put together, the phrase translates to "Beijing welcomes you!" Strangely, when separated, each individual name translates as "You will get your ass kicked repeatedly and thoroughly in school."

And in case you were wondering, 5,598 people have the same name as Yao Ming, who surprisingly is totally outclassed by star hurdler Liu Xiang, who has the same name as 18,462 other people in China.

-WCK

Worst Name Ever

If we're all lucky, then the Red Sox's season will end tonight. But even if it ends here, there's still plenty of ways for The Nation to piss you off.

Since the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, more and more families across the country are birthing their boys into Red Sox Nation with the name Boston. Man, imagine having to go through life with that name. Might as well just let the kid start teething on a bottle of whiskey.

In 2004, for the first time in a century, Boston appeared on the government's list of the 1,000 most popular names. Once less popular than Adolph (ok, I made that up), the name has made a comeback, rising to 626th place. According to the Social Security Administration, 856 boys named Boston were born in 2004, 2005, and 2006.

There are even a few celebrity fathers of Bostons, including Kurt Russell and some Survivor contestant named Shane Powers who I've never heard of and isn't really a celebrity.

And here's the worst thing. Experts predict there will only be more baby Bostons because the Sox aren't going away any time soon.

"What people name their kids is an expression of their personality and values," said Cleveland Evans, associate psychology professor at Bellevue University in Nebraska and former president of the American Name Society.

I guess being named Cleveland probably means your parents didn't like you, but still, it's better than being named after a city with an insufferable fan base.

Buena suerte Tribe.

-WCK