Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka announced she is expecting her first child. If you’re a tennis fan and have a baby on the way, you may consider naming your child after some famous racquet ballers.
TennisWorldUSA analyzed popular tennis pro names ranked among the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to reveal the top 10 boys’ and girls’ tennis-inspired baby names. Alexander and Maria are the most popular, with 25 and 27 players currently ranked, respectively.
The top 10 boy names are:
- Alexander
- Daniel
- Nicolas
- Juan
- Federico
- David
- Lorenzo
- Andrea
- Sebastian
- Luca
Alexander is the most popular name for professional men’s tennis players, as there are 25 current singles and doubles players ranked by the ATP with this name. German player Alexander Zverev was ranked as high as No. 2 worldwide.
Daniel is the second most popular, with 24 named players currently. British player Daniel Evans reached a career-high of singles No. 22 in 2021.
Nicolas places third, with 22 players currently in the ATP rankings. French player Nicolas Mahut achieved No. 1 in doubles in 2016, and his two coaches also share the same first name, Nicolas Copin and Nicolas Renavand.
The top 10 girl names are:
- Maria
- Anna
- Anastasia
- Victoria
- Daria
- Sara
- Alexandra
- Laura
- Julia
- Martina
Maria is the most popular name for women, particularly in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries like Portugal and Brazil. Twenty-seven players named Maria appear in the current WTA rankings, making it the most popular name for women in tennis. Greek Maria Sakkari is ranked No. 6 and was the highest-ranked Greek player in history, tied with Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Anna is a name found in countries across the globe and is currently the second most popular name for female tennis players with 22 ranked players. Retired Russian former world No. 1 Anna Kournikova won two Grand Slam titles in Australia in 1999 and 2002 with partner Martina Hingis.
Anastasia is of Greek and Russian origin and has been in the top 200 U.S. names since 2016, according to Nameberry. With 20 ranked players, Anastasia is the third most popular women’s name in tennis. Anastasia Potapova is a former Russian junior No. 1 currently ranked 43 by the WTA.
If you want to consider other baby names, check out the top names trending for 2023, or these travel-inspired monikers.
