Tim Witt was driving one day in January 2007, listening to the radio, when he heard the name of Alabama’s new coach. He called his wife with an idea.
“I thought he was crazy at first,” Hannah Witt recalled.
Heck no. We’re not doing that.
Tim and Hannah Witt welcomed their second baby boy into the world on March 20, 2007. They named him Saban. Saban Witt.
That was only a couple months, mind you, after Alabama hired Nick Saban as the football coach. He hadn’t even coached a game yet at UA.
“I wanted something different and I wanted something to do with Alabama,” Hannah Witt said, “but I didn’t know Saban was going to be like Bear Bryant either.”
The Witts proved to be ahead of their time. Nick Saban went on to coach 17 seasons total and win six national championships.
Over that span, 37 babies born in the state were given the name Saban, according to data obtained by AL.com from the Alabama Department of Public Health.
At least one Saban was born nearly every year during his coaching tenure, save for 2008, 2015 and 2021.
“The two things we love more than anything else are our children and our football,” said Alabama author Rick Bragg. “So why not? Why be surprised they would be named after that other thing we love?”
Meanwhile, 1,330 children have been named Nicholas in the state since 2007. There have also been 29 Nicks. The legendary football coach may or may not have inspired those.
The name Saban might be relatively new in Alabama, but the concept of naming children for Alabama football isn’t. It goes back decades. At least 1,469 babies in the state have been named Bryant since he started coaching at Alabama in 1958, per the Social Security Administration. And they live all around the nation.
There is also no shortage of Crimsons, Tydes and even a few people named Bama and Tua. They all exist, and they’re all examples of Alabama football’s cultural impact.
“There’s nothing wrong with naming them for things that cause us to hold our breath or cause us to fret or to bring us joy,” said Bragg, who now teaches writing at UA. “In a way, if you think about it, it kind of makes more sense than it is nonsensical. You just have to grow up down here to understand it.”
Krimson Tyde babies
In 1993, Michele White finally had her chance to name a child Krimson.
Once upon a time, Michele had decided that’s what she would name her daughter. But her first kid was a boy, so she named him Danny. Then came the baby girl. Having married a man with the last name White, Michele was only a middle name away from the stuff of legends. Good thing Anne was a family name.
Krimson Anne White arrived that April.
“I’ve really had to go back after being asked these questions growing up and being like, ‘Mom, why?’” Krimson, now 32, told AL.com. “’What was your logic behind this?’”
The person named for Alabama’s colors, now Krimson Anne Revis after getting married, might have had the most Alabama football name of them all, but she’s not completely alone.
“The two things we love more than anything else are our children and our football. So why not? Why be surprised they would be named after that other thing we love?”
Alabama author Rick Bragg
At least 373 people have been named either “Crimson” or “Krimson” in Alabama since the year 2002, according to data from the Social Security Administration. During that same time, there were 133 born in all other states combined. 2002 was the first year when at least five people were named after the Tide’s primary color in Alabama, but the trend took off once Saban returned Alabama to prominence.
In 2008, Saban’s second year, 17 children in Alabama were named either Crimson or Krimson. In 2010, the year after Saban’s first national championship with the program, 33 Krimsons/Crimsons were born. The number remained high through Saban’s early years with the program, peaking at 40 in 2015, before dropping off in more recent years.
There would have been at least one more named Crimson if Saban Witt had been a girl.
Saban Witt’s name was a gamble, but it paid off more than his parents could have ever imagined. Will McLelland | WMcLelland@al.com
Said Hannah Witt: “I already had Tyde.”
Yes, Saban’s older brother is named Tyde.
Their mother was driving to Huntsville about 20 years ago when she saw the license plate that said “Tyde.” She liked the name. So she told Tim Witt about it. That’s what they decided to name their soon-to-arrive baby boy.
“I didn’t want it to be Tide because it makes me think of the washing detergent,” Hannah Witt said. “I wanted it to be a little bit unique.”
Tyde Witt was born in 2005, but since then, there have been at least 23 babies named Tyde. It has been among the more popular names with Alabama football ties over the past two decades. And yet, it’s still not anywhere close to the Crimsons or Krimsons.
Tyde Witt often has to correct people on his name. They often think his name is Ty. Will McLelland | WMcLelland@al.com
Meanwhile, at least three children have been named Bama in the state since 2007. It’s not as common, but it has a long-standing history. From 1910 to 1938, at least 105 babies were named Bama, according to public data from the Social Security administration.
No Alabama-related names have been as popular as Bryant, though.
Baby Bears
On Dec. 29, 1982, Paul “Bear” Bryant coached his last game at Alabama.
On Dec. 30, 1982, at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham, Bryant Saxon was born.
That’s not a coincidence. Saxon, who recently moved to Connecticut, has seen the clip from the news that day. His mom, a Mobile native, held her newborn as a reporter asked the question.
Why did you name your son after the Bear?
Saxon’s dad, from Bessemer, gave his spiel on how he admired Bear Bryant as a man and a coach.
And we also just liked the name.
Saxon has never minded the name much, especially when he still lived in Alabama.
“I feel like it’s played favors to me in my life,” Saxon said. “Especially for folks that have appreciated it.”
Saxon had one former boss who fell into that category.
With a name like Bryant, how could you not be a winner?
The name “Bryant” took off in Alabama when the Bear took the head coaching job, and again after his death. Before Bryant coached the Crimson Tide, the name wasn’t particularly popular, never topping 12 Alabama baby names in a year between 1910 and 1958. That changed as Bryant started winning at Alabama.
A new record 14 babies were named Bryant in 1960, two years after the Bear was hired. The number rose to 26 in 1974. The most notable jump happened after the legendary coach’s death in 1983, with the biggest spike yet in 1989, when there were 45 Bryants born. Then, the ultimate peak occurred during the start of Saban’s dynasty, with 48 Bryant babies in 2009.
In Alabama, 438 people have been named Bryant since 2007, per the health department. There have also been 35 kids named Bear in the state since 2007.
The Paul W. Bryant Museum in Tuscaloosa keeps a database of people across the country who identify as being named for the legendary Alabama coach. That tally has reached 739, according to data the museum shared with AL.com. The oldest person is 80. The youngest has been alive for about half a year. They live in 26 states.
546 of those people are named Bryant. 98 of them are Paul. 85 are William. Eight are Bear. Two are Paula.
For most of her life, she was Krimson Anne White. Now the 32-year-old Hoover resident is Krimson Anne Revis. Will McLelland | WMcLelland@al.com
The next generation?
Krimson Anne Revis has five siblings, and none shared in her unique experience.
They’re Danny, Colby, Camille, Will and Maggie. One Alabama-football-themed name was enough.
“(Danny) missed a really good opportunity to be Saban, I guess,” Revis said.
But the trend could have always been continued with the next generation. When Revis was pregnant with her first baby, many people had the same question.
Oh are you going to name this one something off the wall? Saban or Alabama Crimson Tide?
“I’m like, ‘Well my last name’s not Tide, so that one wouldn’t work,’” Revis recalled. “’But thank you for the suggestion.’”
She chose a different path than her mother. Revis named her kids Brooks, McCoy and Anne Evans.
“I decided after 26 to 27 years of what I had lived through,” Revis said, “even though they were great times, I would not do that to my children.”
AL.com’s Ramsey Archibald and Rebecca Griesbach contributed to this story.
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