Kobe

Kobe hit American birth certificates hard in the early 2000s, almost entirely because of a teenager drafted thirteenth in 1996 who went on to become one of basketball's most singular figures. His parents famously chose the name from a Kobe beef steakhouse menu, where the word referenced the Japanese port city. In Swahili, Kobe carries a separate meaning, tortoise. Ranked 409 in the U.S., it has become one of those rare first names tied almost entirely to a single person and still widely embraced. Two syllables, the K sharp, the long O sure of itself. A jersey on a bedroom wall, and a name.