And another issue of Celebabies begins! This monthly series takes a look at the children of the stars, from the children of royals, musicians, reality TV stars, and anyone else whose life is in the spotlight. Today, we’re looking at an array of the latest trends and high-risers, as interpreted by me from the collection of celebrity baby, or celebaby, names. Now, let’s get started with the celebabies!
Louise Jean
Emma Stone and her husband Dave McCary recently welcomed a little girl into the world. Stone, is an actress famous for her parts in La La Land, Easy A, and The Help. The name that the couple chose was the sweet, vintage, homespun Louise Jean, a name that conjures up a beautiful cottage in a golden dusk, tea on the table and a little girl with her hair flying frantically from braids as she frolics in the long prairie grass. At least, that’s what I think of. Just beautifully quirky and with a nice old-fashioned touch that brings a twist of charm to the combination, Louise Jean is certainly a lovely choice on behalf of Emma and Dave. Louise Jean as a combo isn’t necessarily my favorite, as it doesn’t have a very smooth flow, even despite the pleasant alternating syllable count. However, Jean is the middle name of both Emma and Emma’s mother and Louise’s grandmother, Krista, so I definitely think that in this case, the sweet tradition of the middle name Jean in addition to the beautiful imagery it offers really makes the chunkiness in flow worth it. And Louie Jean is positively adorable! I think that it’s clear both from Emma Stone’s choice and the action around Louise I’ve been seeing on forums that Louise is most certainly a name to watch. The traditional girl name has been slowly mounting the charts ever since she reentered the top 1000 in 2016, and currently ranks at #690, a simple and sweet name for a daughter that feels cheerful, tranquil, and pure. Congratulations to Emma and Dave on their first child!
Jason King
Artist Jason Derulo, most popular for his song Savage Love, welcomed a son with his girlfriend Jena in early May. The little boy inherited his father’s name, Jason, although he has a different middle name than his songwriter father. Jason Derulo is Jason Joel, while his newborn son has been given the middle name King. Jason is a name that experienced incredible popularity in the 70s and 80s, peaking at #2 in 1978. However, even though the name Jason is outdated from his enormous popularity in the past, his sounds live on in the present through #97 Jace, #151 Jayce, and #11 Mason. So I wouldn’t necessarily say that this choice is out of date or too old to fit a child, given the nearly identical names we let into our top 100 of 2020. The sweetness in passing Jason’s name on to his son is clear in this choice, but the fact that different middles stop him from being a junior also allow their child a sense of individuality and uniqueness from his parents. King is a very current, strong, masculine choice, which really balances out any datedness from Jason with a stylish and modern middle, not to mention a good distinguishing factor from his father. I wonder if baby Jason will go by a different nickname or his middle name or initials in order to separate himself from his dad, given that many children with their parent’s names use some other name for ease and less confusion with family reunions, dinnertime, or bring-your-kid-to-work day. I think that Jason is definitely an option that has plenty of personal significance and meaning for this family, and the middle name King adds just the right amount of flair to make a family name stand out.
Christian Georges Dumontet
Christian Richard and his wife Christine Quinn, reality TV star in Selling Sunset, added a son to their family in May. Naturally, both having Christi- names, they continued the quirky coincidence with their own son, whom they named after his father, Christian. They announced that they’re son bears the name Christian Georges Dumontet, although it’s unsure the surname of the child. I believe that Georges Dumontet are two middle names and not a last, because legally, a child’s surname needs to be that of one of their parents. Now obviously I’m noticing a trend here of the Juniors from baby Jason to baby Christian, and I’ve got a few words on that. In the past, it was uncommon to have a neighbor down the road with a couple sons that didn’t bear their father’s name. John always had a little Jack or Johnny by his side, and Charles had his little Chuck or Charlie. But as the years progressed, this grew more and more rare. Sure, maybe you knew one or two families in the 90s with James the fourth, “Jimmy,” and his son, James the fifth, “Jamie.” However, for the most part, unless you were carrying on a centuries old tradition or something incredibly monumental like that, mainstream naming culture was drifting. More names were available with baby naming books and websites, and parents had two or three children on average as opposed to, you know, ten. As parents had more resources to be creative with names and fewer children with which to bestow those name on, the rate of children just popping out into the world and getting their father’s name slapped onto them, since “Hey, this is our 7th boy and I really can’t think of anything but Richard, Thomas, John, and James. And those are already the names of four of my sons and the middle names of six of them. So how about this one is just Phillip Jr?” And in a way, creativity and uniqueness in baby naming is still highly valued. But I’ve noticed among a lot of celebabies in the past couple months this idea of bestowing a father’s name on a son is becoming trendy again. We’ll see! As for Christian’s middle names, I really don’t know what to say. They must have some personal significance to the couple, because typically, when asked for your son’s middle names, something like “Christian Michael James” is far more likely to come out of your mouth than “Christian Georges Dumontet,” so I’m looking forward to maybe hearing their reasoning for those unique and elegant choices.
Rian- Brother to Conor James and Croia
And here we see yet another example of a modern-day junior showing up in May Celebabies! Not with the new arrival, necessarily, but his four year old older brother again suggests this trend warming up again. Conor McGregor, highest paid athlete in the world and star MMA fighter, and his fiancee Dee Devlin recently welcomed their third child, a brother to Conor James and Croia. And as you may have noticed in that sibset, here we go again with giving a son the same name as his father, but with a different middle name. Conor McGregor (the fighter) is Conor Anthony, while his oldest boy is Conor James. I always choose these celebabies through a random number generator and Babynames.com’s celebrity baby name news in order to ensure that all of the trends I pick up on aren’t hand-picked, so this discovery and connection between all of these recently born children is truly random and an interesting trend to follow. As for Conor and Dee’s recently born baby boy, his name is a more authentically Irish spelling of #57 Ryan, Rian. Even though I’m not sure how well the more exotic Croia fits with the very mainstream Conor and Rian, the boy names do blend beautifully, and often, sibsets have very different styles for boy and girl names anyway. Isn’t the meaning, “little king,” so sweet? The spelling Rian definitely pays homage to the Emerald Isle while also retaining some of the original spunk and originality of Ryan before he made it big in the early 2000s. This spelling itself doesn’t rank in the top 1000, so if you’re looking to dodge the bullet of mainstream popularity but you love Ryan, Rian is a brilliant option that might feel more fresh.
Upcoming Celebabies:
The first lucky family to expand is Lauren Lapkus, star in Orange Is The New Black and The Big Bang Theory and her husband Mike Castle, who have announced that they’re expecting a daughter, their rainbow baby, this summer. The pictures of them announcing that they’re family will be growing depict a very homespun, domestic, sweet vibe, so I’m definitely thinking that they’re daughter will bear a name more on the tame side, a very cute, potentially modern classic name (Josephine, Caroline, Ivy, Claire, Lily, Amelia). Professional athletes Morgan and Bode Miller are expecting their sixth child together, a sister to Nash, Easton, Asher, Aksel, and their late daughter Emeline. Now, I would typically prescribe something cutting edge and cool for a sister to Nash, Easton, Asher, and Aksel, but the idea of a sister called Emeline deters me from such a modern and unisex style approach. Then again, Bode’s daughter from a previous relationship, Dace, throws me off that trail as well. Maybe something that blends sweet vintage Emeline with modern cool Nash, Easton, Asher, and Aksel (Everleigh, Avery, Violet, Penelope, Quinn). Finally, Usher is welcoming his second child with Jenn Goicoechea and fourth child overall. He has two sons from a previous marriage, Usher V and Nayvid Ely, and one daughter with Jenn, Sovereign Bo. For a girl, I’m guessing they’d go along the same lines of a beautiful but rare word name (Lullaby, Majesty, Story) and for a son, maybe something with a lot of dramatic flair (Balthazar, Sterling, Foster, Sparrow). Thanks so much for reading, friends, and be sure to leave your opinions on the trends this month down below! Have a wonderful rest of your day, everyone.
Sincerely,
-Delphina Moon