After ill-considered Facebook promise, will sister name her baby 'Megatron'?
What started as a silly sibling bet has become a Facebook phenomenon.
The name of Mike Affinito's Facebook page says it all: "MY SISTER SAID IF I GET ONE MILLION FANS SHE WILL NAME HER BABY MEGATRON."
Launching the page on February 27, Affinito had more than five months to rally the million followers before the baby is due.
It took only 13 days.
Tickled by the idea of naming the child after the leader of the Decepticons in "The Transformers," 10 Facebook users joined in the first hour. Now, each hour brings thousands of new fans. The official count, as of this writing, reads 1,097,139. Not bad for a wager that no doubt sounded absurd in the beginning.
Now, the community is left with two questions. First, will she actually name her baby "Megatron"? And, perhaps more important, is this real?
The Internet harbors plenty of charlatans. (LonelyGirl15 comes to mind.) There's been no independent confirmation that this bet ever took place. Affinito has not replied to our interview request and keeps his Facebook privacy tight.
The "Megatron" page reflects a certain earnestness – even if it is manufactured – including a discussion board started by Affinito that asks "we all know that Megatron will be the first name. Heck, the kid might not even find that out until they're 16 years old and have to get it on their driver's license. So what should be the middle name that they actually go by? I'm going to suggest Megan or Ben depending on boy or girl."
Megatron Megan does have a nice ring to it. The name certainly beats fellow Transformers Starscream and Bumblebee.
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Have you joined the million fans? Do you think it's real? Share your thoughts in the comments.
