More than 4,000 children in China have been given the name Aoyun, meaning Olympic Games, in the past 15 years.

The rise in popularity of the name is seen as a sign of support for the Games being staged in August in Beijing.

Officials in charge of identity cards say that more than 92% of the 4,104 registered Aoyuns are boys.

It is not uncommon for Chinese children to be given names of common events and popular slogans - such as Defend China, Build the Nation and Space Travel.

There are 290,798 registered Civilisations.

The first surge in Aoyuns came in 1992, when Smith calls for Rangers resolve ...
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Czech government to decide whether PM will visit Beijing Olympics ... China applied to host to the 2000 Games. About 680 Aoyuns were registered at the time.

In 2002 another 553 Aoyuns were named, after China was chosen to host the 2008 Games.

The BBC's Chinese service says that in recent weeks babies have also been given names such as Hope for Sichuan, to show solidarity with earthquake victims.

(BBC)

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