Matt Cerrone sums up the Mets bargaining position in the Cliff Lee trade at Metsblog .com. What caught my eye is that both the Mets and the Twins are both offering prospects with the same first name, Wilmer Flores for New York and Wilmer Ramos for Minnesota.

Wilmer is a very rare name in the United States. I did not know it was a first name until I saw the Maltese Falcon is college. According to Wolfram Alpha, Wilmer was at the height of it’s popularity at the time of the novel. While never a popular name, it started a steady decline in the 1930s, going pretty much extinct in the 1960s. What drove it out of existence?

Any male child with the name Wilmer born during the 1960s probably had to endure his friends doing Fred Flinstone impersonations for the rest of his life. My wife and I agreed we couldn’t name out daughter Lucy, because I would imitate Ricky Ricardo every time I called her. Maybe they no longer get reruns of the Flintstones in Latin America.

Update: As a commenter points out, the Twins player is Wilson Ramos, not Wilmer Ramos. However, there are a plethora of Wilmer’s active in the minor leagues. The three major league players who carried that name did not use it, either going with their middle name or nickname.