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Cubs fans name their kids after all sorts of things, but this one’s new

mike oz

Chicago Cubs fans have used the past year as an opportunity to name their kids all sorts of things that have to do with the reigning World Series champs. There’s a kid named Zobrist out there. There are kids named Addison and Addyson (both for the street and for Addison Russell). Heck, the first baby born in Chicago in 2017 was named Wrigley.

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This one, however, is new to us: A couple that birthed a child on Father’s Day decided to name it Waveland.

That’s a reference to Waveland Avenue, which is the street to the north of Wrigley Field. Out of the four streets around Wrigley, it sounds the least like a child’s name — there’s Clark, Addison and Sheffield — but that was the point.

Waveland Avenue outside of Wrigley Field, circa 1988. (Getty Images)
Waveland Avenue outside of Wrigley Field, circa 1988. (Getty Images)

Parents Stephen and Bronwyn Case told the Chicago Tribune they wanted something a little different. From The Tribune:

“We’re originally from Texas and Tennessee,” Bronwyn Case said. “We don’t have family here. We feel like this is our special place. We wanted something unique to Chicago (as a baby name).”

Stephen Case tossed out names like Addison, Sheffield and Madison. “But I didn’t like any of them,” Bronwyn said.

According to The Tribune, the young girl could have a very rare name. The paper found only five births since 1916 where a child was named Waveland. There’s one Cubs-supporting family that named all its kids after Wrigley-area streets, but only used Waveland as a middle name.

The main reaction we’ve gotten is a double take,” said Stephen Case, who attends Wheaton College as a graduate student. “At least on Twitter it’s been 99 percent positive. One guy did ask if I was going to name my kids Old Style and Rooftop.”

Decent ideas. Schwarber would work too. If you want to be hipster about it, Eloy (as in Cubs star prospect Eloy Jimenez) would be totally ahead of the curve. Kris Bryant Has Dreamy Eyes is probably a bit long, but maybe in 20 years babies will have names that like that.

Oh, we’ve got a suggestion. The next Cubs baby should be named Epstein. As in Theo, the team president that constructed the team that broke the curse.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!