This NASCAR Driver Found A Hilarious Way To Win A Classic Baby Name Fight

Many parents-to-be have been here: you’ve narrowed down the baby name list — you’ve checked it twice — you’ve fact-checked any unintended references to childhood bullies or serial killers — and you and your spouse are still at a crossroads. Your spouse prefers one name — and you like it, but not as much as another. You can’t compromise. What do you do? Well now, a resurfaced story from Tyler Reddick — NASCAR racer and one of the stars of the recent Netflix documentary NASCAR: Full Speed — provides some inspiration on how to break the stalemate. So long as you’re the competitive type.

“Alexa was pregnant,” Reddick said in an interview on the show as he discussed the then-upcoming 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. “We were going back and forth on names.”

Then Alexa — his partner — offered him a bet: “She was basically like, ‘if you go win this championship, you can name our son Beau or whatever else you like. But if you lose it, I get to name our kid whatever I like.”

Well, what do you know, Reddick won the championship for the second time in a row, completing back-to-back wins in 2018 and 2019. As the media covered in 2019, as soon as Reddick saw Alexa, he took off his helmet and shouted “Baby Beau!”

Apparently, the couple was stuck between the names Ryker and Beau. Beau is a popular but unique baby boy name — in 2022, it was the 89th most popular boy name in the United States, per the Social Security Administration — but prior to 2021, the name was not even in the top 100 most popular baby boy names across the country. Per The Bump, the name Beau means “beautiful” or “handsome” and is a gender-neutral name of French origin.

And while you may not have a NASCAR track or championship to bet the name of your future baby on, making a light-hearted bet to finally tie-break the stalemate of baby name decisions doesn’t have to be such a bad idea. But one thing must be true: both parties must at least like the names on the table, as Alexa did. As she said in 2019 to NBC Sports: “We’re both really competitive. I shook on it. I like the name Beau. It just wasn’t my first choice.”

NASCAR: Full Speed is streaming on Netflix right now. For inspiration on more unique baby boy names, check out our comprehensive list.