The Most Outrageous Athlete Names, Ranked: Ho You Fat, Noah Knigga, & More
From Steeve Ho You Fat to Kool-Aid McKinstry, we ranked the most outrageous athlete names we've seen in sports.
High school sports star Noah Knigga took the internet by storm this week after his last name caught steam when he announced he would be visiting West Virginia University as a football recruit. Twitter, now known as X, did what Twitter does and flooded social media with jokes, rants, and analysis of Knigga's name. In an interview with Robert Griffin III, Knigga and his family clarified that the pronunciation was "Kuh-nay-guh" to try to clear up the narrative that has spread all over the country but the damage had been done.
Knigga is one of many athletes we've seen with names that trigger a reaction immediately. The trend seems to be most common with football players on the collegiate level but it dates back to times before the internet was even in existence. Who can forget the famous Key and Peele skit mimicking football players with outrageous names? While a lot of the names may be unfamiliar based off pedigree, there are still legends like Dick Butkus that fit into this category.
From Steeve Ho You Fat to Kool-Aid McKinstry, we ranked the 15 most outrageous athlete names we've seen in sports.
19.Wolfgang Wolf
Sport: Football (Soccer)
Team: FC Kaiserslautern
Wolfgang is a very popular German name but having it with the last name Wolf is not as common. It's a cold name especially when you're an athlete.
18.Two-Boys Gumede
Sport: Football (Soccer)
Team: Panama City Pirates
Um. OK. His nickname had to be "Two", right? Those moments when the teacher would take attendance for the first time ever had to be entertaining.
17.Kyle Sackrider
Sport: Football
Team: Michigan State University
God bless Kyle because you know he went through it in high school.
16.Steve Sharts
Sport: Baseball
Team: Philadelphia Phillies
It's a shame Steve Sharts never reached major league ball because he would've sold jerseys in Philly.
15.Moh Bility
Sport: Football
Team: The University of North Texas
Unofficial Pronunciation: Mobility
He plays defensive back so we can confirm he's indeed mobile.
14.Dick Butkus
Sport: Football
Team: Chicago Bears
Unofficial Pronunciation: Butt-Kiss
Dick Butkus is a legend in the game of football who will be remembered for what he did on the field from diehard football fans. To the casual sports fan, he will absolutely be remembered for his name.
13.Pig Cage
Sport: Football
Team: The University of Texas at San Antonio
Quinton is his birth name but "Pig" is the only name you'll find him under. There is no documented backstory on the origin of "Pig" but characteristics associated with pig are usually negative so we hope it's a good story.
12.Kool-Aid McKinstry
Sport: Football
Team: University of Alabama
Remember the name (that shouldn't be hard) because he will be playing on Sundays for a long time.
11.
10.Will Clapp
Sport: Football
Team: Los Angeles Chargers
Not much needs to be said. If you know, you know.
9.Da'Realyst Clark
Sport: Football
Team: Defiance College (Division III)
Unofficial Pronunciation: The-real-ist
It'll be tough to make an NFL roster from a Division III school but Da'Realyst puts up NUMBERS. Let's hope we see him in the league one day.
8.Decoldest Crawford
Sport: Football
Team: Louisiana Tech
Unofficial Pronuciation: Duh-Coldest
Decoldest name in sports. He became popular as a four-star recruit in high school. He transferred from Nebraska to Louisiana Tech in 2023.
7.General Booty
Sport: Football
Team: The University of Oklahoma
He is the nephew on former Miami quarterback John David Booty. The jokes were flowing when General Booty announced he would be changing his position to tight end.
6.Lucious Pusey
Sport: Football
Team: Eastern Illinois University
It's tough to find an official pronunciation for this one but he no longer has to worry about that because he petitioned to legally change his name to Lucius Seymour. While in college he was in a back-and-forth with Deadspin that resulted in him sending an angry long email saying "damn you know the funny thing is that mother fuckers like yall wont have the balls and say it to my face.. when i make it to the league i will shoot a middle finger at yall and say fuck all my haters."
5.Dick Trickle
Sport: Nascar Racing
Luckily or maybe unluckily social media wasn't a thing when Dick Trickle was starring on the track. His following on social would've been thriving at least.
4.Chubby Cox
Sport: Basketball
Team: Washington Bullets
Unofficial Pronunciation: You can read.
A fun fact about Chubby Cox is that Joe Bryant is his brother-in-law. Joe Bryant is the father of Kobe Bryant, making Kobe his nephew.
3.Noah Knigga
Sport: Basketball/Football
Team: Lawrenceburg High School
Unofficial Pronunciation: Kuh-nay-guh
The name heard around the world. It likely won't be the last we hear from Knigga as he's on his way to play Division I football somewhere.
2.Steeve Ho You Fat
Sport: Basketball
Team: Metropolitans 92 (France)
Unofficial Pronunciation: Hoe-You-Fat
Wemby wasn't the only player making headlines on the Metropolitans 92 team last season. Steeve Ho You Fat took the internet by storm when his last name was revealed on television during a battle between Wemby and Scoot Henderson. "Ho You Fat with a three" will go down in history.
