Ultimate List of Top 50 Weird Names in the NFL (PART II)

We continue to remember those, who were cursed or blessed by their parents, with the second part of the Top 50 Weird Names in the NFL with past and present professional football players!

When a player appears with a crazy name, you can’t think of anything but “What were the poor guy’s parents thinking?” You know, it’s tough to play a career of an NFL linebacker with the name of a porn actress, but in the end it has to make you stronger. Let’s see those players, who had their biggest tests when they had to introduce themselves! Here comes the second part of the Top 50 Weird Names in the NFL!

40. Le-Lo L. Lang

How can you include four ’L’ letters in a name that has only three vowels? Well, this is the way! Le-Lo played his four seasons for the Denver Broncos without using the middle ‘L’ in his name and he doesn’t use it on his LinkedIn profile either. Three ‘L’s might be well enough for him and his first name might have been the source of many problems itself anyway.

39. Lousaka Polite

“Dear Mister Linebacker! Could you, please let my dear colleague in to score a touchdown? I am afraid I have the responsibility of blocking you in this play, so I am kindly wondering if you would be so kind and step back!” Lousaka spent seven years around the league in the 2000s as a fullback. Internet betting users might remember that he played for franchises like the Dallas Cowboys, the Miami Dolphins or the New England Patriots, but he was too polite to bother opposing defenses with touchdowns, scoring only two in his career.

38. D’Brickashaw Ferguson

The 2006 first rounder has been playing for the New York Jets ever since he was drafted, and many of those who bet on sports in the US still don’t believe that this is his real name. The most notorious fans, like Key & Peele were so shocked by his name that they made the East-West College Bowl sketch. But his name is so real that in his hometown, Freeport, New York, a street is named after him, the D’Brickashaw Ferguson Way. He was named after the fictional character Father Ralph de Bricassart from the Colleen McCullough novel The Thorn Birds.

37. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix

Like Ferguson, Clinton-Dix was also featured in the 2015 version of Key & Peele’s East-West College Bowl.

This is a name that you wouldn’t believe at first, and you would be absolutely right. However, if you were called Ha’Sean Treshon Clinton-Dix, maybe you would also switch to ‘Ha Ha’… Anyways, the guys at the Green Bay Packers love the nickname of the 2014 first rounder.

36. Craphonso Thorpe

Craphonso doesn’t sound like a name at all and maybe it’s because Craphonso is not an actual name. At least it wasn’t until the 2005 first rounder’s parents decided to give him a combination of his father’s two given names, Craig and Alphonso. His middle name is Ja’won, but this did not make things easier for him and he eventually failed to make an impact in the NFL.

35. Joe Montana

No, this is not the stage name of an adult film star. Instead he is one of the best quarterbacks who ever played the game, a legendary player for the San Francisco 49ers, winning four Super Bowls between 1982 and 1990.

However, when the San Francisco Chronicle announced a nickname contest for the young quarterback at the early stages of his pro career, a fan argued that ‘Joe Montana’ already sounds like a nickname, so the QB would deserve a proper one and he was given the name, David W. Gibson. Montana liked it and he had it on his locker. Just like an online casino pro.

34. Gale Sayers

Gale Sayers totally sounds like the name of a Hollywood actress from the 1940s. But instead of the academy awards for best actress in a leading role, he got the NFL Rookie of the Year award in 1965 as a ball carrier and became an All-Pro in five of his seven seasons in the NFL. He had something to do with the film industry after all, but he rather avoided that sad feature. The TV movie Brian’s Song (1971, remake 2001) depicted his friendship with teammate Brian Piccolo, who died of cancer at the age of 26.

33. Michael Hoomanawanui

You don’t want to learn how to pronounce this name, but since the former New England Patriots tight end still has a few years in him, you should give it a try. Wikipedia says that the pronunciation respelling key says that the name of the Super Bowl champion, who was traded to the New Orleans Saints in 2015, sounds like HOH-oh-mah-NAH-wah-NOO-ee. His name means ‘to be patient’ in Hawaiian, and well, you will need some patience when practicing to pronounce or write his name properly…

32. T.J. Houshmandzadeh

The former Cincinnati Bengal was blessed by parents who did not want to cause a bigger problem to their kid, who had quite a burden anyways through his father’s Iranian name. This is not something English speaking people can pronounce just like that.

‘Houshmandzadeh’ means ‘the son of wisdom’ and Touraj Jr. was wise enough to get away with two letters in front of it. And he got a shorter version of his last name too from his fans, who cheered for him by calling ‘Hoosh’.

31. Ikponmwosa Igbinosun

Ikponmwosa (pronounced: e-po-MO-sa) was named as No. 1 in the All-Time Hard-To-Spell NFL Names list. His name means ‘grace from god’ in Nigerian, but it seems that NFL defensive coordinators don’t value this grace high enough but continue to struggle spelling his name when assembling the depth chart, since Igbinosun is around the league since 2012 but he has yet to make a start in the league.

Ultimate List of Top 50 Weird Names in the NFL (PART I)