40 unique celebrity baby names

Daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin

No, Apple wasn’t named after the computer company or because she’s “the apple of their eye.” In an interview, Gwyneth says that Chris had suggested the name, and she “loved it straightaway…I thought it was so unique and sounded cool.” The actress went on to say she liked how the name sounded “clean” and “wholesome,” which seems fitting for the Goop founder. 

Daughter of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian

When Kim was pregnant with her daughter, there was a funny rumour that the couple liked the name North West—this rumour wasn’t true. But then a few celebrity friends convinced them that it was an awesome name. Pharrell Williams said “that is the best name” and Vogue Editor-in-Chief, Anna Wintour, had said “North is a genius name,” and “I guess at that point it sort of stuck,” Kim told US Magazine. When Kim was pregnant with her son, there were rumours she would name him Easton West. In the end they named him Saint because he was their miracle baby. 

Daughter of Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo

The couple has Ellen DeGeneres to thank for their baby girl’s name. Adam sat down with Ellen and revealed that he had sent her what he thought was the perfect name, and she suggested better ones, Dusty Rose being a top choice. Behati didn’t like it at first, but warmed up to it.

Son of T.I. and Tameka Cottle

The name means “greater” or “a military rank.” Maybe the rapper’s son has a future in the army? Or in baseball? 

Sons of Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green

In a 2014 interview, Megan said that becoming a mother made her a more spiritual person. Bodhi is a Buddhist term that refers to a “Buddha’s understanding of the true nature of things.” Translated, it means “awaken” or “enlightenment.” The couple chose another spiritual name for their youngest son, Journey River. 

Twin daughter and son of Jensen Ackles and Danneel Harris

The couple hasn’t explained the reasoning behind their twins’ names, but we can only assume that Zeppelin was inspired by the rock band. As for Arrow, it can be a symbol for moving forward and strength.

Son of Alexa Vega and Carlos PenaVega

In a post on Instagram, Alexa explained the meaning of their unique name choice. “God called the dry ground ‘land’ and the water the ‘seas.’ And God saw that it was good. That is why we went with Ocean. And he is a son of the one true ‘King.’ For us it has a beautiful biblical meaning.”

Daughters and sons of Jamie and Jules Oliver

“I’m not sure where Petal Rainbow came from—apparently it’s a My Little Pony! I wanted to call her Rainbow but Jamie told me to calm down,” Jools told Gurgle magazine. In keeping with their floral name theme: Poppy translates to “flower,” while Daisy means “the day’s eye” and stands for “energetic, fresh and wholesome.” River might hold a more meaningful memory for Jamie; could it be inspired by his time spent working as a Sous Chef in the River Cafe?

Son of Michael Phelps and Nicole Johnson

Michael addressed how he and his wife came up with their son’s very unique name, saying that they thought it was “different and cool.” Boomer’s middle name, Robert, holds significance to Michael, as it was inspired by the name of his long-time coach, Bob Bowman, as well as his great grandmother, Roberta. 

Daughter of Robert Kardashian and Blac Chyna

The Kardashians tend to pick very unique, some would say odd, names for their kids. Rob and Blac Chyna chose the name Dream because “they’ve always said [their] is a dream come true.”

Son of Kimora Lee Simmons and Tim Leissner

The term “wolf” represents a sense of fierceness and quiet nature. This may mean little Wolfe will have an instinctual need to wander or travel.

Son of Jena Malone and Ethan DeLorenzo

Although the Hunger Games actress and her boyfriend haven’t revealed the reasoning behind their atypical name choice, we can only assume it’s an ode to their love of mountains?

Daughter of Zooey Deschanel and Jacob Pechenik

The New Girl actress told Ellen Degeneres that she gave her daughter the middle name Otter because “they’re so cute, and playful and fun. And they’re really smart.” Besides that, “they hold hands while they sleep.” Now that is pretty cute! 

Sons of Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale

According to Gwen, Zuma (which is an awesome unisex name) was inspired by Zuma Beach in California because “it’s really close to where we live.” Apollo, on the other hand, stems from Greek mythology after the Greek God and son of Zeus. Greek names are really in this year so we may see more Apollos in 2017. 

Son of Pharrell Williams and Helen Lasichanh

As the guy who approved of the name North West, it’s no surprise that he went with an unusual and space-inspired name for his son. Pharrell explained that the name serves as an homage to the couple’s musical idols, including Elton John (who sings “Rocket Man”) and Stevie Wonder (who sings “Rocket Love”). They also wanted “an inspirational name” for their son because it “is a symbol of soaring high.” Celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, loved the name too and picked it as a middle name for his son, River.

Daughter of Beyonce and Jay-Z

This power couple, both with unique stage names, have not spoken about why they chose a colourful name for their daughter. However, fans speculate that it’s Jay-Z’s favourite colour because of his lyrics, “my favourite hue is Jay-Z blue.” What about Ivy? Rumour has it that it represents the Roman numerals for the number four, which is a powerful number for the couple: both of their birthdays, their wedding date and the title of one of Beyonce’s albums include four. 

Daughters of Busy Philipps and Marc Silverstein

Busy and her husband had a good reason for picking uncommon and nature-themed names for their kids. “Since I grew up with a nickname—Busy being short for Elizabeth—when my husband and I started to have our babies, we decided that if wanted to call our kids something, we would just name them that thing that we wanted to call them.”

Daughter and son of Alanis Morissette and Mario “Souleye” Treadway

Onyx is a popular gemstone found in Canada (Alanis is Canadian), that’s very strong and hard to break, while Solace “brings comfort in sorrow.” Fans were cracking jokes on Twitter, saying “Isn’t it Ironyx,” when the singer revealed her daughter’s name. As for Ever, the Hebrew name translates to “beyond,” while Imre (pronounced EEM-REH) represents “strength.” Although odd, these names are very meaningful. 

Daughter of Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee

Now you might be thinking “Who would name their child after a bag?,” but the name supposedly has a deeper meaning for the couple. They chose it to honour the great pitcher, Leroy “Satchel” Paige. Woody Allen also chose the name for his son (who now goes by his middle name, Ronan), making this a rare, unisex name.

Son of Ciara and Future

It’s not out of the ordinary to name one’s son after his father, right? Well, this one might be a bit of a head scratcher because the ex-couple named their baby boy after his father’s stage name, and not his actual name, Nayvadius. We guess they were just optimistic about his bright future?

Son of Alicia Silverstone and Chris Jarecki

Alicia explains that she and her husband, Chris, chose the two names because they couldn’t choose just one. “We had narrowed our list to five boy names, and then we couldn’t really decide. He suggested Bear or Blu, and I loved them both.” Kate Winslet also chose the name Bear for her son, while Jamie Oliver opted for Buddy Bear for his little guy.

Son of Mick Jagger and Melanie Hamrick

While Deveraux means “riverbank,” Octavian is a Latin word, meaning “born eighth,” which is perfect since this baby is Sir Mick’s eighth child. Basil is the name of Jagger’s late father. 

Son of Seth Meyers and Alexi Ashe

The Late Night talk show host explained, “We named our son Ashe, which is my wife’s maiden name. I can’t think of a better way to honour what she did. The middle name is Olsen, which is my mother’s maiden name.” Okay, so he named his son after two important women in his life…how sweet is that! But the name does sound a lot like Ashley Olsen! 

Son of André 3000 and Erykah Badu

The parents, who are no longer together, haven’t explained the meaning behind their son’s name, so we’ll just go with the fact that seven must’ve been a lucky number for them. The middle name, Sirius, is also the name of the brightest star in the sky. Hockey player, Brent Seabrook, also picked Seven as a middle name for his son after his own jersey number and so did David and Victoria Beckham for daughter Harper. 

Son of Jason Lee and Beth Riesgraf

The My Name is Earl star said he and his then-partner named their son after a song on indie rock band Grandaddy’s album, called “He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s the Pilot.” It “absolutely blew my mind when I first heard it.” We sadly don’t have even the faintest clue of where the middle name came from.

Son of Edward Norton and Shauna Robertson

The actor and his wife seem to have gone the geographical route when choosing a name for their baby boy. The rarity of it makes it pretty cool, and the reasoning for it could have something to do with it being the name of a Greek god.

Son of Jermaine Jackson and Alejandra Oaziaza

Could it be that Jermaine Jackson Jr. was already taken by his older brother so the couple needed another name that paid homage to Dad? We get that the first part, “Jer,” was taken from Jermaine’s name, but we can only guess that the “majesty” part of the name was an attempt at sounding royal. 

Son of Kelly Rowland and Tim Witherspoon

The former Destiny’s Child member says that she let her husband name their son. “Tim said that’s what he wanted the name to be. I gave him the complete responsibility because I did everything else! I pushed the baby, I carried the baby, I’m dressing the baby, I’m changing the baby. Everything else! So yeah, I’m like, ‘You name the baby!” she told E! News. She also mentioned that if the name was awful, she would’ve encouraged him to “try again until they got it right.” The moniker, meaning “defender,” was popular in Greek mythology as the name of “powerful, immortal giants.”

Son of Fergie and Josh Duhamel

In an interview with Ellen, Fergie revealed that she had a dream while pregnant of being at a music festival, where Axl Rose from Guns N Roses was performing on stage, and when she woke up, she felt her first kick from the baby. Right after she gave birth, she said, “I hear screaming. And over the side comes Axl, and he’s screaming at me, crying. And I went, ‘Okay, the name works.’” She also said that Axl Jack “just had this ring to it. It was very strong.”

Son of Mark Ruffalo and Sunrise Coigney

We guess the two were just keen on naming their son something unusual, just like his mom’s first name?

Twin sons of Zoe Saldana and Marco Perego

Actress Saldana and her husband, artist Perego, chose some sweet names for their boys. Cy conjures up baseball great Cy Young, and Bowie is an honourable name to share with the late David Bowie.

Son of Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick

Kardashian originally had this name on the short list for her firstborn, Mason, and then for daughter Penelope (but spelled “Rain”). The third time was a charm.

Son of Sean Penn and Robin Wright

In a recent interview, Hopper revealed that his dad chose the name because he was friends with fellow actor, Dennis Hopper, whom he idolized very much. It’s definitely better than the alternative! Sean had wanted to name him Steak after his love of meat. 

Daughter of Kristin Cavallari and Jay Cutler

Inspiration can hit at any moment. The reality star chose the name after a chance meeting with a woman out walking her dog: “I loved her dog’s name,” she said.

Daughter of Ashlee Simpson and Evan Ross

They wanted her to have the name of a rock icon.

Daughter of Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen

The couple took inspiration from the princess in the original Grimm brothers’ tale of Sleeping Beauty.    

Daughter of Cam Gigandet and Dominique Geisendorff

The Twilight series actor and his fiancée gave their third child this exceptional name. Maybe there’s a connection between their name choice and the date of their pregnancy announcement, which was Memorial Day. Geisendorff’s Instagram caption of her ultrasound picture thanked “the troops out there that protect this little (expanding) family.” Coincidence?   

Son of Lucy Liu

Liu welcomed her son late last year via a gestational surrogate, and the name means “from the rocky spring.”  

Son of Terrence Howard and Mira Pak

The Empire star took the name from “a mythical half-dragon, half-lion who glides above the land so as not to harm even a blade of grass….”

Daughter of Kevin James and Steffiana de la Cruz

For their fourth child, the two comedians kept up their pattern: All of their daughters have a name that start with S, and their son’s starts with a K. 

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