Mitt admits there are few Mitts at The Mitt in Mich.

Campaigning in Michigan, the Republican presidential candidate took a liking to a restaurant called The Mitt on Friday.

Are there any more Mitts out there? Mitt Romney is looking for them.

Campaigning in Michigan, the Republican presidential candidate took a liking to a restaurant called The Mitt on Friday. The pizza eatery was not actually named after Romney, a native son of Michigan but it inspired Romney to give a history of his name and how he has searched in vain for other Mitts.

"You know, I've almost never met anyone with my name," he told a crowd patiently waiting for pizzas. "Maybe two people in the entire country have told me their name is Mitt and that's over a lifetime of listening for someone to say they named their kid Mitt. Somehow that name just did not catch."

His full name is Willard Mitt Romney. He said his parents chose the Mitt partly due to a cousin whose athletic prowess Romney himself did not seem to inherit.

"My dad had a cousin whose name was Mitt Romney and this was in the 1920s and he was the quarterback for the Chicago Bears," Romney said. "So they thought by naming me Mitt Romney I'd get extraordinary athletic ability."

After the crowd reacted, Romney said, "Yeah, your laugh is exactly right - that did not happen."

Michigan is sometimes called the Mitten State because the hand-like shape of its Lower Peninsula. Michigan has been riled by Wisconsin's claim to the same nickname.