A Tennessee man says he named his newborn daughter Sarah McCain Palin Ciptak in honor of the Republican presidential ticket without telling his wife.

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Mark Ciptak of Carter County said he and his wife had planned to name their child Ava Grace, but he "secretively went and got another set of forms" for Social Security officials and the Tennessee Department of Health to have his daughter named after Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican presidential nominee, and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Kingsport (Tenn) Times-News reported Tuesday.

Ciptak said when he broke the news to his wife Layla she did not seem to take his claim seriously.

"I don't think she believes me yet. It's going to take some more convincing," he said.

He said the name was chosen "to get the word out" about the McCain campaign.

"I can't give a lot of financial support for the campaign," he said. "I do have a sign up in my yard, but I can do very little. Is this going to change the course of the election? I doubt it. But it's something that I did to help out the campaign and the cause."