On November 16, 2003, Leo Messi made his Barça first-team debut at just 16 years old, and in 2009, he won his first Ballon d'Or. Immediately after, between 2010 and 2019, the name Leo skyrocketed among babies born in Catalonia. Last year, it was the seventh most popular name, although by 2022 it had risen to second. Until 2000, there were only 38 children named Leo in Catalonia, but now there are 5,849, 64% of whom were born between 2010 and 2019. The average age of boys named Leo across the country is 6.7 years, according to data from the INE (National Institute of Statistics and Census). "It's a name clearly linked to the Leo Messi phenomenon; the children's ages indicate this," says Francesc Calafell, a researcher at the CSIC-UPF Institute of Evolutionary Biology. "It's still early, but perhaps we'll also see a surge in Alexias and Aitanas," he adds.