Eva-Toni-Ann: Football fan names daughter after Merseyside club Everton

A football fan has paid the ultimate tribute to his favourite club by naming his daughter after it.

Eva-Toni-Ann Pierce owes her unusual hyphenated name to her dad's love of Everton Football Club.

Her father Danny Pierce says it's a dream come true for him to have a daughter he could name in honour of the Blues.

Danny, who lives in Moorfields, Holywell, said: "I am Everton beserk. I thought up the name when I was in school and always said if I had a daughter she'd be called Eva-Toni-Ann."

But Eva's mum, Claire Cooper, needed some convincing, having already ruled it out when the first two of their three daughters, Tia and Casey, were born.

She said: "I'm not interested in football and I didn't like the name at first. But it has grown on me now."

Danny said: "We put all the names we had thought of in a hat and I picked out Eva-Toni-Ann. Then we got our eldest daughter to pick one – and she picked it as well."

Claire added: "She didn't have a name for the first couple of days because we were going to call her Ciara, but it didn't suit her."

If they had had a boy, he would have been called Duncan, after former Everton striker Duncan Ferguson.

The unusual name has attracted a lot of attention since Eva was born eight months ago.

"When we go into the chemist people always say what a great name it is," said Danny.

"People come up to me in the street to talk about it. Even Liverpool fans think it's great."

The name has extra meaning for the family after Danny's father, a huge Everton fan, died following a house fire earlier this year.

Danny added: "My dad was a big fan and a season ticket holder. He brought us up on Everton. He was here when Eva was born and I know he was proud."