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It took hard work, determination, focus, and some luck for the New York Giants to reach Super Bowl XLVI. It certainly did not have to do with their names. But some of them are pretty interesting.

Rocky Bernard

Robert Eugene Bernard, Jr. With Bernard and his father having the same first name, the defensive tackle's family felt obligated to nickname the son and avoid confusion between the two. "My parents were trying to think of a nickname for me and I was just kind of one of those wild, crazy kids," he said. “It was when the Rocky movies came out, so it just kind of stuck. I've been called it since I was 3 or 4 years old." Bernard may not fight in Philadelphia-area rings, but he has been a rock on the Giants defensive line, playing in 45 games in three seasons.

Prince Amukamara

Unlike Bernard, Amukamara's first name is on his birth certificate. This is because his name has cultural and historic meaning. "My dad's a chief in Nigeria and for that, the first son always gets the name Prince, so that's how I got it," Amukamara said. Amukamara's father, Romanus, is the current chief of Awo-Omamma in the Imo State of Nigeria. The cornerback is the heir to Romanus's title. The names of Amukamara's five sisters: Princess, Promise, Peace, Precious and Passionate. A less eccentric but equally respectable Amukamara family fact: Prince's mom, Christy, competed for Nigeria's track and field team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Bear Pascoe

McKenna Pascoe. Yogi was smarter than the average bear. Bear Pascoe was just bigger than everyone else. "Bear's just a nickname I was given when I was younger by my parents," he said. "I was kind of bigger than everybody else when I was a little kid. That's something they gave me that has stuck throughout the years." Today the tight end/fullback is 6-5 and 283 pounds. Pascoe also is skilled in team roping, which he learned as a child on his parents' Porterville, Calif., home. The sport involves lassoing cattle, but not bears.

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