The Pats-Colts Faceoff: Baby Namin'

In honor of the mother of all football matchups, which will take place when the New England Patriots play the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday afternoon, Bostonist is going to compare the coaches and the quarterbacks. The following piece addresses one of the sillier aspects of the Face Off--which quarterback inspires the most baby names.

You can compare New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning in all kinds of ways. Their stats, their personalities, their looks, what they wear, whom they squire around town. But it never occurred to Bostonist that you could compare the two based on how many baby names they inspire.

Someone at CNBC had a lot of spare time and decided to explore how many babies had names that may have been inspired by the legendary pigskin-tossers. "Peyton" has been in the top 200 of baby names "five of the last seven years." But "Brady" still ranks higher as a baby name and came in at No. 105 in 2006, compared to "Peyton's" No. 154. (Side note: Brady's Babymama Bridget Moynahan certainly avoided "Brady" in her baby-namin'.)

There's so much to say about this. Is it a good idea for people to name their tots after famous people so that the kids will be saddled with a dated name once they reach their golden years? And has the media reached the final frontier when it comes to comparing Brady to Manning?