Mon Jan 24, 6:22 AM ET

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - A Romanian tabloid says it has fired a reporter for making up a story about a couple who named their son Yahoo as a sign of gratitude for meeting over the Internet.

Earlier this month, major Bucharest daily Libertatea published a story saying two Romanians had named their baby Yahoo and printed a picture of his birth certificate. The news was widely picked up on the Internet.

“It was the reporter’s child’s birth certificate, which he modified,” said Simona Ionescu, Libertatea’s deputy editor-in-chief on Monday. “We fired him.”

She said Ion Garnod, who had worked for the paper for several years, had admitted inventing the story to look good.

“If it were real, it would have been a good story indeed,” Ionescu said.

Garnod was not available for comment.