Super Bowl Names: An Analysis of Every First Name that Has Started in the Big Game

The Super Bowl is only just over a week away, which means that next week, you will get all the Super Bowl coverage you could possibly imagine. But rather than simply looking forward to one game, I decided to take a look back at the history of the game in it’s most fundamental piece: the players. And by looking at the players, I decided to take a look at the most fundamental piece of the players: their names.

Methodology note: All data is from starting lineups as listed on Pro Football Reference. List excludes Kickers and Punters (sorry guys, nobody gives you the respect you deserve).  I scanned the list to replace any obvious nicknames in place of real names (e.g. Too Tall Jones was replaced with his real first name, Ed), but shortened versions of long names (Mike for Michael) stayed as they were in the PFR database. 

Over the past 49 years, there have been 587 unique first names to appear in the Super Bowl. The most appearances, unsurprisingly, is the name John with 51 player-games (e.g. if John Doe played in 3 Super Bowls, that counts as 3). Jim, Mike, Bob, and Mark round-up the top 5, all with 37 or above player-games.  On the other end of the spectrum, almost half of the list (274) are names that only made one appearance in the big game. Only one name appeared in both Super Bowl I and Super Bowl LIX (last year), Bobby.  Bobby Bell for the Chiefs in Super Bowl I, and Bobby Wagner for the Seahawks last year.  Two others, Mike and Chris, have made appearances in Super Bowl I and Super Bowl LVIII, while Tom and Dan were in Super Bowl II and Super Bowl LIX, all 47 years apart. Michael, James, and Kevin were three names with greater than 10 appearances that made the latest first appearance in a Super Bowl, with all 3 playing in Super Bowl XXIII.

Here’s the full list, with the Super Bowl numerically for sorting purposes. Be sure to put your favorites in the comments below!