MANILA — The name "Covid Bryant" will have a familiar ring to anyone who's had access to news in the last few months, as it's inspired by the late NBA legend Kobe Bryant — and apparently, the new coronavirus disease.
A newborn's hand is captured in this file photo. ABS-CBN News
COVID-19, the name established by the World Health Organization, has swept headlines and daily conversations in the past month as the virus became a full-blown pandemic.
The ubiquity of the term, it appears, rubbed off on a number of Filipino parents who recently welcomed their newborns, to the extent of naming them after the disease. That is, according to viral posts that pushed "Covid Bryant" and then "Covid Rose" to top Twitter trends in the Philippines on Wednesday and Thursday.
Covid Bryant drew amusement on the social media platform initially on Tuesday, as user NiΓ±a Cayosa wrote that she saw an exchange of messages involving one household helper who named her newborn after the basketball superstar and the pandemic.
Then, in a since-deleted tweet, one user shared on Wednesday a photo of a Sutan Kudarat child's birth certificate. The first name indicated: Covid Rose.
While Covid Bryant and Covid Rose aren't yet confirmed to be actual, given names to newborns, some Filipino netizens appeared to welcome the light-hearted distraction amid uncertainties surrounding COVID-19.
"They will meet someday and will talk about the history of their names and will eventually fall in love. And they will have cute little quaranteens," one user quipped.
Here's a look at how others reacted: