Whatever happens on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, one thing is certain: the 2026 World Cup will end, its players will become international soccer history and FIFA will begin the countdown to the 2030 tournament. What will last much (much) longer is the mark that the 2026 World Cup has left on Peru’s official census. There officials have encountered a curious phenomenon: hundreds of parents are calling their babies “Haaland” in a nod to the Norwegian striker, one of the most viral in the competition.
In reality there is little surprising about it.
What has happened? Norway’s World Cup dream vanished on Saturday, when they were defeated 2-1 by England. However, that does not mean that the Nordic team welcomes one of the most iconic players of the World Cup: Erling Braut Haaland. His exploits on the field, his Viking appearance (Scandinavian blonde, almost two meters tall) and the occasional viral video retouched with AI have made him a mass phenomenon in recent weeks.
And that has left its mark on the Civil Registry of the Republic of Peru.
Trace, in what sense? In a quite forceful one. According to data provided by the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (Reniec) and disseminated by local media such as the Peruvian News Agency (Andina), hundreds of people who bear the name Haaland now live in the country.
To be more precise, the Reniec includes 560 people who include Haaland in their name. Most are limited to the last name, but there are 91 people who have been registered as Erling Haaland. To make matters worse, there are four named Erling Braut Haaland, exactly like the Manchester City player.
Why’s that? Good question. Difficult answer. Reniec does not specify when this ‘boom’ of babies who have become walking tributes to Haaland occurred, but it is not unreasonable to think that the trigger was the FIFA Cup. In fact, the registry has shared the information just now, coinciding with the World Cup and (above all) the viral success of the Norwegian forward.
In any case, Haaland is not the only ball star who is leaving his mark on Reniec. To be honest, it’s not even the most popular.
Are there more cases? Yes. Euro News remembers that the Civil Registry already has 3,402 Peruvians named Messi, including the almost 300 who are directly and officially called Lionel Messi. They are a good handful, but they come to nothing when compared to the 33,809 that Neymar has on his card, which makes him the most popular first name of football resonances. There are almost 1,200 ‘Cristianos Ronaldos’ and the list goes on and on with many other references to stars.
Which footballers succeed? The most famous, regardless of their nationality. The Peruvian News Agency specifies that the Peruvian registry includes 1,502 people named Griezmann, 1,241 who respond to the name Yamal, 319 baptized in a nod to Salah, 238 to Mbappé and 175 to Pedri.
If you dig a little deeper we still find dozens of Neuer, Bellingham, Lewandowski, Rashford, Harry Kane, Rodrigo de Paul or Luka Modric. Also some Vinícius Junior, Lukaku, Kai Havertz, Dibu, Dembelé, Courtois or Michael Olise. After all, the history of football is not only written in the big stadiums… it also has its echo in the civil registry offices.
Images | Gustavo Leighton (Unsplash), Wikipedia and Deb Dowd (Unsplash)
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