The Most Outrageous Athlete Names, Ranked: Ho You Fat, Noah Knigga, & More

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. 

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. 

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. 

Sport: Football

Team: Michigan State University 

God bless Kyle because you know he went through it in high school. 

Sport: Baseball 

Team: Philadelphia Phillies 

It's a shame Steve Sharts never reached major league ball because he would've sold jerseys in Philly. 

Sport: Football 

Team: The University of North Texas

Unofficial Pronunciation: Mobility 

He plays defensive back so we can confirm he's indeed mobile. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Sport: Football 

Team: Los Angeles Chargers 

Not much needs to be said. If you know, you know. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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." 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.