With Rory winning the Masters yesterday, my knee-jerk reaction was golf. Tiger, Jack, Rory, Phil, Arnie, Bobby,  Byron, Ben.   And probably a few more.   Scottie, Sergio, Nick.  
 

But basketball has its share.  Magic, Michael, Kobe, Kareem, LeBron, Hakeem, Pete, Larry.   And the argument can be made that because hoops is more popular internationally, these names are bigger. 
 

What does BGP think?

29 minutes ago, mcpapa said:

With Rory winning the Masters yesterday, my knee-jerk reaction was golf. Tiger, Jack, Rory, Phil, Arnie, Bobby,  Byron, Ben.   And probably a few more.   Scottie, Sergio, Nick.  
 

But basketball has its share.  Magic, Michael, Kobe, Kareem, LeBron, Hakeem, Pete, Larry.   And the argument can be made that because hoops is more popular internationally, these names are bigger. 
 

What does BGP think?

Off the top of my head for the NBA, I also think you could add Dirk, Scottie, John, Karl, Shaq, Rajon, Vince and Steph. I will watch the NBA during the playoffs and that's about it but I'd say they likely lead this category. 

Soccer. 

13 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Soccer. 

There are some.  But I could argue that more are recognizable by their last names.  

10 minutes ago, mcpapa said:

There are some.  But I could argue that more are recognizable by their last names.  

Much of that is dependent upon where they're from. Neymar and Renaldo from Brazil are both first names. We often think some of their nicknames are their first/last names. Pele and Pepe to name a couple.

NASCAR

Dale, Cale, Rusty, Denny, Tony, Ned, Ricky, Bobby, Cal, Cole, Bubba, Danica, Jimmy, Richard, Darrell.

4 minutes ago, theguru said:

NASCAR

Dale, Cale, Rusty, Denny, Tony, Ned, Ricky, Bobby, Cal, Cole, Bubba, Danica, Jimmy, Richard, Darrell.

Don’t forget the boss’s boy. Chase. 
 

6 minutes ago, theguru said:

NASCAR

Dale, Cale, Rusty, Denny, Tony, Ned, Ricky, Bobby, Cal, Cole, Bubba, Danica, Jimmy, Richard, Darrell.

Not to mention Ricky Bobby being memorialized in film. 

Just now, mcpapa said:

Not to mention Ricky Bobby being memorialized in film. 

I sorta snuck Ricky Bobby in my list, at least that was the intention.  And Cole ain't Custer...

1 minute ago, theguru said:

I sorta snuck Ricky Bobby in my list, at least that was the intention.  And Cole ain't Custer...

I saw that. 

Golf also has a Bubba. 

Just now, mcpapa said:

I saw that. 

If we went worldwide with auto racing that may take the cake for this thread but only because it isn't American centric. 

1 minute ago, mcpapa said:

Golf also has a Bubba. 

Just now, theguru said:

If we went worldwide with auto racing that may take the cake for this thread but only because it isn't American centric. 

Several in Indy Car and Formula 1. 

Just now, mcpapa said:

Several in Indy Car and Formula 1. 

Yes, especially F1.  But like you mentioned above some of them have much more famous last names.