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updated 25 Jun 2014, 21:21
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Sun, Jun 15, 2014
The New Paper
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The Beautiful name
by Charlene Chua

World Cup 2014 football stars, the fate of Singapore's most highly-anticipated celebrity unborn child lies at your feet.

For local star couple Fann Wong and Christopher Lee's sake, try not to score the winning goal if your name sounds rude - or worse, like an expletive - in our local lingo.

Wong, 43, who is seven months pregnant, had told reporters at a Bvlgari event this week about her radical idea. She is thinking of naming her baby after the football player who scores the winning goal at the World Cup final in Brazil next month.

She said that she still does not know her first-born's gender, so we guess anything's up for grabs.

Ten of our other local celebrities - plus our very own The New Paper sports correspondent David Lee, who is in Brazil for the World Cup - keep their tongues firmly in cheek to predict the possible moniker of Wong's and Lee's bundle of joy.

1 NEYMAR

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, Brazil

DJ Glenn Ong, 44: "I think Fann knows Neymar is going to be the one, so it works out perfectly in Mandarin. Because Neymar sounds like 'your mother' (ni ma)! Hopefully no one says it in Hokkien."

2 SEAMAN

David Seaman, England

Actor Andie Chen, 28: "Lucky for the baby, Seaman has retired."

3 MESSI

Lionel Messi, Argentina

Actor Elvin Ng, 33: "I think that's really creative and fun-spirited of Fann.

"I hope she ends up with names like Sala or Drogba or Jesus, and then let's see if she sticks to them.

"I think the player might be Messi. Messi Lee."

4 CRISTIANO / YAYA

Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal or Yaya Toure, Ivory Coast

DJ Bobby Tonelli, 38: "I really hope for them it's Cristiano - closer to the father's name and has a cool ring to it.

"If it's Yaya, the child will have a lot of explaining to do in school."

5 HULK

Givanildo Vieira de Souza, Brazil

TV presenter Soo Kui Jien, 41: "What a crazy idea! Mad football fans from England have used the names of the entire squad of their favourite team for their children's middle names.

"If Brazil wins and Hulk scores, wouldn't that be great?

"There you go, Hulk Lee!"

6 NEYMAR

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, Brazil DJ-SingTel mio's 2014 Fifa World Cup presenter Jamie Yeo, 37: "I think Brazil is going to make it all the way to the finals and it's going to be Neymar.

"Hopefully it won't be Hulk scoring the goal, if not it won't be so nice for Fann to call her son or daughter that."

7 MESSI

Lionel Messi, Argentina

Actor Adrian Pang, 48: "Messi Lee. Because that'll be the way Fann and Chris will go about their day-to-day life for the next few years - been there, done that."

8 GHOOCHANNEJHAD

Reza Ghoochannejhad, Iran

DJ Shan Wee, 32: "My son was born on the opening day of the 2012 London Olympics and I wanted to name him Fourbyonehundredmetresrelay, but my wife wouldn't allow it.

"I wish Fann all the best and fingers crossed that Iran doesn't make it to the finals because their midfielder Ghoochannejhad might just score!"

9 MESSI / AGUERO / HIGUAIN

Lionel Messi / Sergio Aguero / Gonzalo Higuain, Argentina

Host-model Paul Foster, 33: "Argentina has three potent strikers up front, so one of these guys could score the winning goal - Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain."

"What Fann is doing is pretty interesting, and why not ride the World Cup wave?

"Whatever happens, she is going to get a pretty exotic name (for her kid).

"I hope he or she grows up knowing the back story to his or her name and plays football like these guys, then we have another potential star to follow in mum's footsteps."

10 XAVI

Xavier Hernandez, Spain

TNP sports correspondent David Lee (Twitter handle @davidLeeTNP), 29: "Pronounced 'chubby', it's a cute term of endearment for a baby who is going to be well fed and nourished, especially by (local celebrity hairstylist and the couple's good friend) David Gan."


This article was first published on June 13, 2014.
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