March Madness maternity: Couple using brackets to pick daughter’s name
· Yahoo Sports
John and Maria Ruiz have spent more than a decade building their relationship around one thing they love as much as each other: college basketball. Now, as they await the birth of their first child, the longtime March Madness fans are letting the NCAA Tournament decide something far more personal — their daughter’s name.
The couple, who began dating as teenagers in Miami and have been married for four years, built a tradition during their college years in 2014: traveling to campuses connected to the Final Four teams. Their trips have taken them to UConn, Virginia, Duke and North Carolina, among others.
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John graduated from Florida State, while Maria is a proud North Carolina alum. One of their favorite memories came in 2017, when UNC won the national championship.
“It was absolutely insane,” Maria said. “We were very, very excited to be able to experience that national championship, be able to experience running through the streets and celebrating with thousands of people.”
This year, the brackets mean more than bragging rights. The Ruizes, expecting a baby girl in July, designed their own tournament bracket in which each team represents a potential name for their daughter.
And whichever team wins NCAA national title? That becomes her name.
To build the bracket, each NCAA tournament team was assigned a different name — some longtime favorites, others suggested by friends or followers on social media.
“It sort of matched up perfectly with March Madness,” John said. “So we came up with the idea to assign each team a name — our favorite names at the top, the crazier names toward the bottom — and name her that way.”
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Among the top seeds: Duke is assigned “Sofia,” Arizona is “Valentina,” Florida holds “Olivia” and “Andreina.” UNC, naturally, is “Carolina.”
Maria kept her prediction to herself as she would prefer other teams that are not named Duke to win the championship, but she expected the worst.
“Like I mentioned, my wife went to UNC, so big Duke hater,” John said. “But unfortunately, this year, Duke is a one‑seed, and they look like the best team. So we gave them one of our favorite names. If they win, the irony is our daughter will be named after Duke winning it all.”
John expects Duke to go the distance, in part because of the standout play of the Boozer twins, whom he has followed since their early days at Miami‑Columbus High.
“I think when it gets down to it, in a close game, those boys just know how to close out the games,” he said.
Other names come from friends with school ties. A Villanova‑connected friend living in Wales suggested “Ffion,” a popular Welsh name. So the eighth‑seeded Wildcats carry that name, which makes John a little nervous.
“Ffion ended up being a pretty high seed, so a little scared about that one,” he said. “But that’s sort of the craziest name on there.”
What if Florida State was in NCAA tournament?
Florida State didn’t make this year’s tournament after finishing 18–15 and missing out despite a late-season surge, including a near-upset of Duke in the ACC quarterfinals.
As an FSU alum, John admitted the Seminoles wouldn’t have been assigned a top name even if they had slipped into the field.
“If they had made the tournament, they probably would have been a lower seed,” John said. “It would have taken my heart a little bit not to give them a preferred name, but I had to go with lower-seeded names because I wouldn’t be too confident they would win it all.”
Still, he holds fond memories of the program’s Elite Eight run in 2018 and the 2019–20 team that looked poised to compete for a national title before the COVID‑19 pandemic shut down the season.
“I really believe that team would have won the whole thing,” he said.
Keeping the tradition alive
The Ruizes hope their March Madness adventures continue after their daughter is born, though they know travel may be limited in the early years. If nearby schools such as FSU, Miami or Florida make deep runs, they could still make those trips by car.
“It’s gonna be hard to continue to travel, especially those first few years when she’s really young,” John said. “But we can keep it going. If FSU makes it, that’s a little drive away. I root for anyone close by so I can make a short trip out of it. We definitely want to keep March Madness as a family tradition.”
And when their daughter grows up and learns how she got her name, John and Maria hope she’ll embrace the sport that helped shape her family’s biggest moments.
“I think she’ll automatically fall in love with it because her mom and myself are,” John said.
Regardless of who cuts down the nets this April, the Ruizes know one thing for certain: their daughter’s name will forever connect her to the tournament that has been central to their love story.
Peter Holland Jr. covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at [email protected] or on X @_Da_pistol.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida couple lets March Madness brackets decide their newborn's name