It’s not up for debate that Philadelphia Eagles’ running back Saquon Barkley is unique. His individuality goes back to his beginnings. His parents wanted to give him a name that no one else had. They chose a name that sounded similar to their daughter’s, Shaquona, and combined it with the name of a family member, Laquan, to create Saquon. The name followed the shifting naming practices that began in the 1970s, drawing inspiration from French influences that tended to use the -wan sound.
There is speculation that the name has Swahili roots meaning “warrior” or Ethiopian and Algonquian roots meaning “blessed”. If used in a sentence I’d say the Eagles are blessed to have a warrior like Saquon. Yah, let’s go with that.
He’s quite possibly the most popular guy on the team but the name “Saquon” has never been as popular as its owner. In 2019 the name came in a sizzling 8,529th in most popular boy’s names and it has plummeted in the last five years to 13,437th in 2024. To put that in perspective the name “Joe” ranked 678th last year and the current most popular boy’s name is Noah. Really? Noah? I know four Noah’s and none of them personally – Noah Syndergaard, former Phillies pitcher, Noah Wiley, the dude from E.R., Noah uh, never did catch his last name but the guy who built the ark, and Dear Old Captain Noah, the guy who was always asking me to send him my pictures on Saturday mornings in the 70’s, which sounds a little creepy, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
So while the name Saquon has been trending down over the last few years all of that is about to change. In fact it already has because while Barkley was busy helping the Birds win Super Bowl 59 back on February 9th, he was also celebrating his 28 birthday, racking up 97 yards from scrimmage in a 40-22 demolition of the Kansas City Chiefs. At the same time, about 15 minutes east of Philly, a penguin was hatched at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey.
While the little fella bears little resemblance to the NFL’s leading rusher the brand new bouncing baby blue penguin was named “Saquon.”
“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome a new, healthy chick to our little blue penguin colony! The timing of Saquon’s hatch on Super Bowl Sunday, coupled with the Eagles’ big win, made naming this little penguin after Saquon Barkley a no-brainer!,” Adventure Aquarium Director of Aquarium Operations Marc Kind said, according to PHL17.
Saquon is one of five penguins hatched by his parent’s, Sheila and Spud at the Adventure Aquarium and while the little guy couldn’t be more adorable I just find it ironical that Saquon the human plays for the Eagles and Saquon the Penguin is one of a very few bird species that can’t fly. The two have a similar lower body type in their short, stocky legs but Saquon the Penguin will only be able to waddle on land up to about 1.5 miles per hour when he grows up while Saquon the human in uncatchable in the open field as he set an NFL record with six TD runs over 60+ yards this past year. However, Saquon the Penguin’s combine times are much different in the water. He’ll use his wings as flippers when older and could reach speeds under water up to 24 miles per hour while Saquon the human topped out on a 55 yard versus the Giants this year at 21.93 miles per hour. Still if you told Saquon the Penguin to #FlySaquonFly, your directive would probably fall on his little deaf ears.
The new born bird with the cool name and even cooler namesake won’t be seen by the public for roughly two months, as he gets acclimated to life at the aquarium.
But unbeknownst to the little guy he may have started a burgeoning trend. Seeing all the love that the City of Brotherly Love had for their prodigal superstar, at a generational, celebratory parade last Friday, that just happened to fall on Valentine’s Day, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict a Saquon baby boom of epic proportions in about nine months. Stay tuned.
