VERIZON CENTER —  Georgetown junior D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera was one of five college basketball players named First Team All-“Hyphenated Last Name” on Wednesday evening, an honor recognized as one of the sport’s best. The junior guard was joined by Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein, Georgia Tech’s Marcus Georges-Hunt, Indiana’s Hanner Mosquera-Parea, and, Michigan freshman Muhammad-Ali Abdur Rahkman on the first team.

D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera’s parents said they have believed their son could win the award ever since giving him a really long name.

“It’s a huge honor for me, maybe the biggest of my career with a really long name,” said Smith-Rivera. “Everyone will talk about me winning Big East Preseason Player of the Year, but, I’ll be honest, I had my eye on First Team All-Hyphenated all along. Ever since I first picked up a basketball, all I’ve wanted to be known as was a player who had a pretty complicated name.”

The announcement comes after months of deliberation by the NCAA’s Committee on Names, which handles “all things linguistic” for college sports’ governing body. Players are judged on the “spelling, sound, and complicatedness of their names,” which must, of course, contain at least one hyphen.

“Every year it gets harder,” said committee chair Frank Thomas-Brown. “The millennial generation is coming into college with some pretty unique names. I mean just look at this year’s class. Mosquera-Parea? Cauley-Stein? We’re already bracing for a possible influx of double-hyphens in the near future.”

For Smith-Rivera and the Georgetown Hoyas, the announcement holds special significance. Smith-Rivera joins Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje as the only Hoyas ever named First Team All-“Hyphenated Last Name.” Boumtje-Boumtje, who played for Georgetown from 1997 to 2001, remembered the thrill of receiving the award.

“I could tell you exactly where I was standing when I heard the news,” Boumtje-Boumtje said. “Village A D203, watching SportsCenter. It’s the kind of thing you never forget. D’Vauntes should be extremely proud not only of himself, but especially of his name.”

“I’m just grateful, that’s all,” said Smith-Rivera. “You think of all the great hyphenated names that blazed the trail for me—Abdul-Jabaar, Kidd-Gilchrist, Abdur-Rahim—and it’s just exciting. Hopefully, one day I’ll have the chance to see my name shortened on NBA scoreboards around the country, just like they did.”