I really wouldn't worry about the football thing. Very few people ever hear/use both of their names in combination, so all the worry that parents have about whether a first and middle name "flows" or if there is some connection people will make with it is really a waste of time. People *won't* connect Bear Bryan with Bear Bryant because they will almost never hear him called Bear Bryan. And in spite of football fans thinking that their knowledge base must be shared by everyone on the planet, I'm betting that only a small fraction of the people who DO hear the whole name will have heard of Bear Bryant. Whoever he is. I hadn't heard of him before this thread.

A friend of mine had people warning her not to name her daughter Sarah Michelle because when she was born, Sarah Michelle Gellar was all over the place. But they wanted that name to honor relatives, so that's what they chose, figuring that the full name would only be heard at baptism, graduation and her wedding. Sarah Michelle is now seven or eight and no one thinks she's a vampire slayer.

Now if it's a given and a last name that might make people think of other things/people, then I might hesitate over a name I like. Bob White would have done well to go by Robert.

Sarah