A soccer-crazed Argentine couple encountered an sudden roadblock 12 years in the past after they tried to call their firstborn son after their nation’s most celebrated participant.
They found that the identify they’d chosen in honor of violated an obscure 1969 statute prohibiting using surnames as first names.
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Messi David Varela received the proper to maintain his distinctive first identify after his mother and father petitioned for and obtained an exemption from the civil registry workplace within the Río Negro province. Hector Varela and his spouse, Lorena Sanchez, most popular “Messi” as a primary identify for his or her new child son as a result of there have been already so many Lionels and Leos named after the beloved No. 10 on the .
“This was extra of a press release,” Hector Varela stated throughout
There are lots of methods Argentines can have a good time . The peerless 39-year-old has already piled up a tournament-best eight objectives, yet another than ‘s and ‘s . He within the Spherical of 16 in opposition to on Tuesday, reviving hope with a pinpoint cross to arrange Christian Romero within the 79th minute earlier than leveling the rating with a aim of his personal 4 minutes later.
An Argentine fan reveals off a tattoo of Lionel Messi.
(Marcos del Mazo by way of Getty Pictures)
Whereas Argentine supporters have , written and tattooed his , and on their our bodies, there’s one type of tribute that is still largely forbidden throughout the nation. Argentine regulation nonetheless prohibits anticipating mother and father from turning Messi’s well-known surname into a primary identify.
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As of June 2025, there have been simply 11 Argentine residents or authorized overseas residents whose first identify was Messi, all 19 years outdated or youthful, That is far lower than the Americans with the primary identify Messi. Or the roughly individuals in France. Or the Brazilians. Or the staggering residents of Peru.
When Hector Varela and Lorena Sanchez garnered international consideration after acquiring permission to call their son Messi in 2014, different anticipating mother and father in Messi’s dwelling province of Santa Fe started making comparable requests. The pinnacle of the Santa Fe civil registry workplace shut them down instantly, publicly reminding the populace, “Utilizing surnames as first names is prohibited by regulation as a result of it could possibly trigger confusion.”
“The regulation itself is nationwide and uniform, it would not range by area,” Buenos Aires-based legal professional instructed Yahoo Sports activities. “What varies is how strictly every province’s civil registry chooses to implement it. The Messi case is definitely an excellent actual world illustration of that inconsistency, since one province allowed it whereas one other, nearly concurrently, explicitly refused close to similar requests.”
Lionel — or Lionela — remains to be out there
Somewhat than risking a authorized battle, most Argentines who wish to identify a baby after Messi have opted for his first identify or a variation of it.
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There are greater than 100,000 individuals from Argentina whose first identify is Lionel, About 87% of them are 19 or youthful, that means they had been born after Messi made his a lot anticipated October 2004 debut at age 17 and after he grew to become the membership’s youngest goalscorer eight months later when he chipped the ball over an unsuspecting Albacete goalkeeper.
Messi led Argentina to its first World Cup title in 36 years on Dec. 22, 2022, scoring a pair of objectives to assist topple France within the remaining. There have been a staggering 9,505 Argentines assigned the identify Lionel at delivery in 2023, , and one other 446 assigned the identify Lionela. In different phrases, about 1 in 47 boys or ladies born in Argentina in 2023 are named Lionel or Lionela.
There are many Lionels named after Messi elsewhere on this planet too, together with the son of a soccer-obsessed actual property agent who immigrated from his native Argentina to the Dallas space at age 10. A few of Mauro Ahumada’s fondest recollections of his dwelling nation are enjoying soccer within the streets together with his childhood associates, after they might afford it with a leather-based ball or, when the concrete wore holes in that, with a ball made from wadded-up newspaper taped inside a trash bag.
When Ahumada was a teen, he grew to become conscious of an Argentine wonderkid who had dazzled since becoming a member of Barcelona’s youth academy at age 13 and who was poised to make his first-team debut. Ahumada seldom missed a Barcelona match as Messi captured eight Ballons d’Or and led the membership to 4 UEFA Champions League titles.
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Ahumada’s closet is suffering from Messi shirts and jerseys. Even his Stanley water bottles are every Messi-themed.
“Messi is somebody who I simply actually admire,” the 34-year-old stated.
When Ahumada discovered in 2019 that his then-girlfriend, now-wife Rebekah was anticipating a child boy, he immediately knew that he wished to call him after Messi. For Ahumada, It wasn’t even simply Messi’s achievements on the soccer area. Ahumada additionally admired the way in which that Messi carried himself as a husband and a father.
“How about Lionel?” Ahumada requested Rebekah, broaching the topic gently.
“That is a pleasant identify,” he remembers Rebekah answering.
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Then Ahumada obtained grasping and steered their son additionally take Messi’s center identify of Andrés.
“My ex’s identify is Andres!” Rebekah responded in disgust.
Lionel Agustín Ahumada is now 7 years outdated, sufficiently old to begin enjoying soccer and to find out about his namesake. He and his father kick the soccer ball forwards and backwards on a regular basis of their yard or lounge.
Mauro Ahumada named his now 7-year-old son, Lionel Agustín Ahumada, after the good Lionel Messi. (Courtesy of Mauro Ahumada)
“OK Leo, I am Argentina!” Ahumada usually tells his son. “What nationwide workforce are you?”
“I am Texas!” Lionel responds, eliciting a chuckle from his dad.
Not a lot info is publicly out there about Messi David Varela, the soon-to-be 12-year-old Argentine boy who has Messi’s surname as his first identify. Yahoo Sports activities was unable to discover a solution to attain his mother and father, who’ve principally saved a low profile since their preliminary wave of 2014 media appearances after their son’s delivery.
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by the Argentine information outlet Todo Noticias Roca famous that Messi David Varela performed soccer for his elementary faculty and wore No. 30 — Lionel Messi’s quantity when he debuted for Barcelona. By then, he was already watching his namesake’s matches and dreaming of assembly the Argentine celebrity.
The younger Messi’s mother instructed the information outlet that she always had strangers coming as much as her to ask if that was her son’s actual identify.
In fact, the reply is sure.
However in Argentina he is one of many only a few.