No kidding: Hardcore Dutch football fan ‘made wife give birth in Belgium so he could legally name son Feyenoord’

A football-mad Dutchman has revealed he sent his wife across the border into Belgium to give birth to their son, all so that he could name the child 'Feyenoord', bypassing Dutch laws forbidding kids from being given unusual names.

The father called into Dutch radio show Mattie & Marieke, which was hosting a discussion about interesting baby name stories, to say that he had gone to great trouble to ensure his son was named 'Bryan Feyenoord' after the Eredivisie side who play their home games in Rotterdam. 

"The Netherlands prohibits such names," the unnamed football supporter explained. "So my wife had to give birth go to Belgium, there you could call him Feyenoord."

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He said that his son, who appears to have been born well over a decade ago, was initially to be named after Brazilian winger Leonardo Santiago - but he relented from that idea when it looked likely that the player would leave the club.

"When my son was born, Leonardo Santiago played for Feyenoord and many people I knew named their son after him. What happened? The player left.

"Only the sons are still called that, you see? At that moment I thought to myself: 'it won't happen to me'."

Leonardo played at the Dutch club between 2000 and 2005. 

Interestingly, the caller also said that a child pictured in one of the internet's first viral memes which shows a young Feyenoord fan extending his middle finger at an opposition player, was one of the his other sons. 

"My eldest son is the famous little man with his middle finger up in that photo," he said. "Almost everyone has seen that."

The photograph is understood to date back to the 2002 UEFA Cup Final between Feyenoord and Borussia Dortmund.