Late on June 13, as the final buzzer sounded on the win that clinched the New York Knicks’ first championship in more than 50 years, star point guard Jalen Brunson scored 45 points in the Finals-clinching game, according to ESPN.
That victory prompted jokes and memes about babies being named after Knicks players. According to one report, 32 babies were named Jalen in New York City between March and early October this year, more than double the 15 from the same period last year.
Die-hard Knicks fans Vance and Yvonne Bradford, who were expecting a child that summer, said they heard those jokes. “A lot of the jokes going around, memes on social media, was ‘There’s going to be a lot of Jalens named after this. There’s going to be a lot of KATs. OGs.’ And everyone was joking about how many ‘Knicks names’ would come of this,” Vance Bradford recalled to ESPN.
After New York won Game 5, the Bradfords opened their windows and heard the chant “Knicks in five! Knicks in five!” That refrain stuck with them, and Yvonne suggested the name Knickson for their son; the couple pronounces Knickson “Nixon,” according to ESPN.
Initially planning Knickson as a first name with a conventional middle name, the Bradfords decided to go further. “Two days later my wife was like, ‘Let’s go full force with this. Let’s call him Knickson Fyve.'” Vance Bradford said, adding he agreed quickly so “she can’t take it back.” The name was finalized, according to ESPN.
Both natives of Brooklyn — Vance from Bed-Stuy and Yvonne from Crown Heights — the couple said the championship had a notable effect on the city. “The impact that it made to the city… seriously changed the behavior of the city in the most positive way,” Vance said, and he acknowledged Knickson Fyve may not be the only child named after the team’s run: “I expect it,” he said to ESPN.
