BEIJING - MORE than 4,000 Chinese have been named 'Aoyun' or 'Olympic Games' in an apparent nod to the Beijing Olympics, state media reported on Wednesday.

According to the police-run centre for information on identity, 92 percent of the 4,104 Chinese who were registered under the given name of 'Aoyun' were males, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

'Aoyun' in Chinese means 'Olympic Games'. Beijing hosts the Games in August.

Nearly 680 of the names were registered in 1992, when Beijing first applied to host the Games and another 553 were registered in 2001, when the Chinese capital was awarded the 2008 Olympics, the paper said.

A long tradition exists in China for naming children after current events with many children named 'build the nation' or 'defend China' after the People's Republic was established in 1949. -- AFP