Kobe Bryant had truly bizarre middle name that was even more unusual than his first

Kobe Bryant was one of the greatest basketball players of all time and a global sports star.

The former NBA MVP won five championships in his illustrious basketball career and inspired future generations of the game's stars with his skill, big-game temperament and drive to win.

And the LA Lakers great also had one of the most unique and memorable names in the sporting world.

Born in 1978, Bryan was named after Kobe beef, a form of wagyu steak from the city of Kobe in Japan.

Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan on the court together (Getty)

And although his middle name is less widely known, it is no less unusual.

Bryant was given the middle name Bean in honour of his father, Joe 'Jellybean' Bryant, who played in the NBA in the 1970s and early 1980s for the Philadelphia 76ers, San Diego Clippers and Houston Rockets.

After leaving the NBA, Bryant Sr. continued his professional basketball career in Europe, predominantly in Italy but also in France, before retiring in 1991.

It is due to his father's career in Italy that Kobe Bryant spent much of his childhood in the country and remained a fluent Italian speaker for all of his life.

And 'Jellybean' was a huge, positive influence on Kobe as a youngster, helping to shape the global superstar the Lakers icon would become.

"I don’t score one point the entire summer. Not one. Because I was terrible. That happened. I scored not a free throw, nothing, not a lucky shot, not a breakaway layup. Zero points," Kobe Bryant once said on The School of Greatness.

"I remember crying about it and being upset about it. And my father gave me a hug and said, 'Listen, whether you score 0 or you score 60, I'm gonna love you no matter what.'

"That is the most important thing that you can say to a child. Because from there, I was like, 'Okay.' That gives me all the confidence in the world to fail. I have the security there," he continued. "But to hell with that. I'm scoring 60. Let's go! And from there, I just went to work. And I just stayed with it. And I kept practicing. Kept practicing. Kept practicing."