Five Kims in South Korea and a lot of Cs for Croatia and Serbia

Chennai: What is in the name? Everything. It’s not merely a word; it’s an identity. It’s something no human being can avoid. The ongoing Fifa World Cup has an eclectic mix of names, as it has attracted 32 teams from different continents, cultures, languages and religions. From tongue twisters to a profusion of Kims, the month-long gala in Russia has a lot to pique your interest.

Croatia and Serbia, evidently, has a penchant for ending names with ‘c’. Barring captain Aleksandar Kolarov and Antonio Rukavina, the second name of every member of the Serbian team ends in ‘c’. Most prominent among them are former Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic and Nemanja Matic of Manchester United.

Croatia, which was part of the erstwhile Yugoslavia like Serbia, has a fascination for the third letter of the English alphabet as 15 of their 23 players have a name ending in ‘c’. Not surprisingly, Serbia’s coach is Mladen Krstajic and Croatia’s boss goes by the name, Zlatko Dalic.

If it is ‘c’ for Croatia and Serbia, Iceland is obsessed with ‘sson’ and ‘son’ endings. The World Cup debutants, the smallest nation ever to qualify for the football showpiece, has 13 players whose names end in ‘sson’ and nine in ‘son’. The odd man out is Frederik Schram.

There is nothing wrong if you get confused after looking at the names on the back of South Korean jerseys. The Asian country has as many as five Kims in their ranks. The Kims are only differentiated by their first names — SG, SW, KW, YG and JH. Commentators have the onerous task of spelling their names in full to avoid confusion. The Korean team also has three ‘Lee’s.

The England squad has interesting surnames that can be useful for pun-loving writers: Kyle Walker, Nick Pope, Danny Rose, John Stones, Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane. Walker can’t run, Pope can’t save the English, Rose smelled a chance, Stones proves to be an immovable object and Raheem’s Sterling show. No one has helped headline writers like the English captain as puns on Harry Kane have already become clichés.

Poland has names that can be mastered only children of Indian origin who sweep spelling contests in the USA. The name of their first-choice goalie is: Wojciech Szczesny. It is the sternest test for a spelling and pronunciation expert. Some other Polish names you can memorise in your spare time: Jakub Blaszczykowski, Lukaz Teodorczyk, Krzysztof Maczynski and Artur Jedrzejczyk. All the best.