World Cup: Argentina loves Messi … it just won't let parents name their kids after him
A soccer-crazed Argentine couple encountered an unexpected roadblock 12 years ago when they tried to name their firstborn son after their country's most celebrated player.
They discovered that the name they had chosen in honor of Lionel Messi violated an obscure 1969 Argentina statute prohibiting the use of surnames as first names.
Messi David Varela won the right to keep his distinctive first name after his parents petitioned for and received an exemption from the civil registry office in the Río Negro province. Hector Varela and his wife, Lorena Sanchez, preferred "Messi" as a first name for their newborn son because there were already so many Lionels and Leos named after the beloved No. 10 on the Argentine national team.
"This was more of a statement," Hector Varela said during a September 2014 interview with a popular Argentine radio show.
There are many ways Argentines can celebrate Lionel Messi's age-defying goal-scoring performance at this summer's World Cup. The peerless 39-year-old has already piled up a tournament-best eight goals, one more than Norway's Erling Haaland and France's Kylian Mbappé. He rescued Argentina from elimination in the Round of 16 against Egypt on Tuesday, reviving hope with a pinpoint cross to set up Christian Romero in the 79th minute before leveling the score with a goal of his own four minutes later.
While Argentine supporters have painted towering murals of Messi, written songs in his honor and tattooed his face, jersey and autograph on their bodies, there's one form of tribute that remains largely forbidden across the country. Argentine law still prohibits expecting parents from turning Messi's well-known surname into a first name.
As of June 2025, there were just 11 Argentine citizens or legal foreign residents whose first name was Messi, all 19 years old or younger, according to the country's national registry of persons. That's far less than the 205 American citizens with the first name Messi. Or the roughly 265 people in France. Or the 363 Brazilians. Or the staggering 3,402 residents of Peru.
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When Hector Varela and Lorena Sanchez garnered global attention after obtaining permission to name their son Messi in 2014, other expecting parents in Messi's home province of Santa Fe began making similar requests. The head of the Santa Fe civil registry office shut them down immediately, publicly reminding the populace, "Using surnames as first names is prohibited by law because it can cause confusion."
"The law itself is national and uniform, it doesn't vary by region," Buenos Aires-based attorney Santiago Williams told Yahoo Sports. "What varies is how strictly each province's civil registry chooses to enforce it. The Messi case is actually a great real world illustration of that inconsistency, since one province allowed it while another, almost simultaneously, explicitly refused near identical requests."
Lionel — or Lionela — is still available
Rather than risking a legal battle, most Argentines who want to name a child after Messi have opted for his first name or a variation of it.
There are more than 100,000 people from Argentina whose first name is Lionel, according to the country's national registry of persons. About 87% of them are 19 or younger, meaning they were born after Messi made his much anticipated October 2004 FC Barcelona debut at age 17 and after he became the club'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 goals to help topple France in the final. There were a staggering 9,505 Argentines assigned the name Lionel at birth in 2023, according to the country's database, and another 446 assigned the name Lionela. In other words, about 1 in 47 boys or girls born in Argentina in 2023 are named Lionel or Lionela.
There are plenty of Lionels named after Messi elsewhere in the world too, including the son of a soccer-obsessed real estate agent who immigrated from his native Argentina to the Dallas area at age 10. Some of Mauro Ahumada's fondest memories of his home country are playing soccer in the streets with his childhood friends, when they could afford it with a leather ball or, when the concrete wore holes in that, with a ball made of wadded-up newspaper taped inside a trash bag.
When Ahumada was a teenager, he became aware of an Argentine wonderkid who had dazzled since joining 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 club to four UEFA Champions League titles.
Ahumada's closet is littered with Messi shirts and jerseys. Even his Stanley water bottles are each Messi-themed.
"Messi is someone who I just truly admire," the 34-year-old said.
When Ahumada learned in 2019 that his then-girlfriend, now-wife Rebekah was expecting a baby boy, he instantly knew that he wanted to name him after Messi. For Ahumada, It wasn't even just Messi's achievements on the soccer field. Ahumada also admired the way that Messi carried himself as a husband and a father.
"How about Lionel?" Ahumada asked Rebekah, broaching the subject gently.
"That's a nice name," he remembers Rebekah answering.
Then Ahumada got greedy and suggested their son also take Messi's middle name of Andrés.
"My ex's name is Andres!" Rebekah responded in disgust.
Lionel Agustín Ahumada is now 7 years old, old enough to start playing soccer and to learn about his namesake. He and his father kick the soccer ball back and forth all the time in their backyard or living room.
"OK Leo, I'm Argentina!" Ahumada often tells his son. "What national team are you?"
"I'm Texas!" Lionel responds, eliciting a chuckle from his dad.
Not much information is publicly available about Messi David Varela, the soon-to-be 12-year-old Argentine boy who has Messi's surname as his first name. Yahoo Sports was unable to find a way to reach his parents, who have mostly kept a low profile since their initial wave of 2014 media appearances after their son's birth.
A 2022 story by the Argentine news outlet Todo Noticias Roca noted that Messi David Varela played soccer for his elementary school and wore No. 30 — Lionel Messi's number when he debuted for Barcelona. By then, he was already watching his namesake's matches and dreaming of meeting the Argentine superstar.
The young Messi's mom told the news outlet that she constantly had strangers coming up to her to ask if that was her son's real name.
Of course, the answer is yes.
But in Argentina he's one of the very few.
