I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, names matter when it comes to athletic success.

Sure, I know the whole “chicken or egg” argument that suggests when an athletic figure becomes so famous that their name becomes what it is, it rolls off the tongue easier, seems to flow.

But really, think about it.

Larry Bird, John Elway, Peyton Manning and Walter Payton, for some examples.

They became so big that the names became familiar, seemed to fit their exalted status.

But flip some of those around, and they become less exalted sounding.

Larry Elway, John Bird, Walter Manning and, heaven forbid, Peyton Payton?

Some now sound like accountants.

Not that there’s anything wrong with sounding like an accountant, but our purpose here is talking about sports stardom.

Wayne Gretzky and Tom Brady are two more that have the flow of a famous athlete, and Wayne Brady sounds good as well, though it will only rise one to the level of being a featured performer on “Whose Line is it Anyway?”

Not that there’s one thing wrong with that either, but again, that’s not what we’re talking about.

Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds … sure, they have that alliterative aspect of any number of Stan Lee superheroes, and were the nameplates of the sordid Steroid Era of Major League Baseball, but you have to admit, there was something catchy about those names that just screamed out, “Star Athlete!”

I think of Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell, both with relatively similar first names, and yet, when switched to Bill Chamberlain and Wilt Russell, the same resonance is just not there.

Of course, though my name does flow in pronunciation, as I’ve alluded to, the cumbersome spelling of my last name made me destined for park district athletic stardom and a career position behind a keyboard.

Even my one last name namesake that made it in pro sports, that I’m aware of, Caleb Hanie, was a colossal bust as a Chicago Bears back-up quarterback.

Then again, I hate to use words such as “colossal bust” to term any pro athlete, as it takes an extraordinary talent to reach the professional level in any sport.

But there just seems to be an intrinsic sense of value to the right name being attached to the greatest athletes.

I remember being in the right-field bleachers with my friend Pete Sandgren at Wrigley Field when the Pirates came to town and heckling the Pittsburgh right fielder Doug Froble.

Looking back, I feel bad for the guy, because at certain points of that game, he was clearly rattled.

A few weeks later, we were back for a visit from the always-hated Mets, where we tried the same heckling tactics as we had before on Darryl Strawberry.

We didn’t seem to have quite the same effect, and Strawberry actually came back at us with an exchange that continued throughout the game.

Then again, with a name like Darryl Strawberry, we should have known he was going to be much more formidable than Doug Froble.