A Ranking of the “Interesting” Celebrity Baby Names, From Kulture to Blue Ivy
Thanks to new mothers Kylie Jenner and Khloé Kardashian, this year has seen the Kardashian family tree expand wider than ever, most notably with Stormi and True. Let’s not forget, though, that there are also other celebrities in this world—ones who’ve also been busy coming up with their own celebrity baby names as of late. This week, for example, Cardi B gave birth to her child with Offset, which could’ve made news just because of the baby’s name: Kulture Kiari Cephus, which is not only a mouthful, but also a clear infringement on the Kardashians’ domain of K’s.
Before that, though, recent history has not disappointed when it comes to thinking outside of the box while naming one’s spawn—to the point that over the course of just a few years, Kate Winslet and Alicia Silverstone both happened to call their children Bear. So we felt it was time to rank the most “interesting” celebrity baby names. Here, our very subjective list.
8. Sunday
Ah, Sunday: the day you spend putting off washing your sheets and dreading getting back to the work week. Evidently, the word has much more positive connotations for Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, seeing as they named their now 10-year-old daughter just that.
7. Bronx Mowgli
Pete Wentz, Ashlee Simpson, and their son Bronx Mowgli in Los Angeles, June 2009.
Back when Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson were married,she gave birth to a son that they decided to name Bronx Mowgli (so: New York borough + Jungle Book character). After clarifying to Ryan Seacrest that the name was not, in fact, a joke, Wentz elaborated on their decision, citing his and Simpson’s shared love for the Jungle Book and leaving “Bronx” up to interpretation, other than to say they had been “throwing [it] back and forth a while ago.”
6. Moroccan
Mariah Carey with her son Moroccan Cannon and her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, August 2015.
In 2011, Mariah Carey gave birth to twins with her then-husband, Nick Cannon, whom the couple named Monroe and, um, Moroccan. No, not Morocco, which would have actually rhymed with Monroe. While Monroe is an homage to Marilyn Monroe, Moroccan is actually an homage to Carey’s apartment in New York where Cannon proposed to her, which is home to her so-called Moroccan room. It’s certainly helped the now 7-year-old stand out even further, now that he’s moving in on his mom’s title of reigning diva.
5. Cricket Pearl
Busy Philipps and her daughter Cricket Pearl Silverstein arrive in Santa Monica, California, October 2017.
Busy Philipps has so far had two daughters with her husband, the screenwriter Marc Silverstein, both of whom they named rather eccentrically: Birdie Leigh, who was born in 2008, and Cricket Pearl, born in 2013. Sure, Birdie isn’t particularly usual, but it’s Cricket in particular that really stands out—to the point that People felt compelled to publish a story with the headline “Busy Philipps: Why We Named Our Baby Cricket.” Apparently, a week after her birth, the couple still hadn’t come up with a name, prompting the hospital to call them for a confirmation, and Silverstein put his screenwriting skills to use by dreaming up the character Cricket Pearl, whom he imagined as being “the coolest camp counselor” and “hot in college.”
4. Saint
Kanye West carrying his son Saint West in New York, October 2016.
Other than anointing himself Yeezus, is there any better way for Kanye West to drive home the fact that he thinks he’s god—as well as set some sky-high expectations—than to christen his and Kim Kardashian’s only son Saint?
3. Blue Ivy
Blue Ivy Carter Proves It’s Possible to Have a Sense of Style at Age 5
Blue Ivy Carter wearing a pink dress, pink shoes, and pink sunglasses (with pink hair beads to match), in March 2017 to see an Alvin Ailey dance performance.
Blue Ivy Carter and her mother, Beyoncé, wore matching green Gucci dresses (plus Converse) to attend the premiere of Beauty and the Beast in March 2017.
Blue Ivy Carter attended the 2017 Grammy Awards wearing a pink Gucci suit with a black panther on the back, plus a Prince-inspired ruffle blouse and a glitter cat clutch to match.
Blue Ivy Carter attended the CFDA Awards on June 6, 2016 in New York City with her father wearing a feather-trimmed dress, white blazer, and matching bow.
Beyonce and Blue Ivy Carter attended the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards at Madison Square Garden on August 28, 2016 in New York City wearing matching princess gowns.
Blue Ivy Carter wore an $1,800 green Gucci dress to the 66th NBA All-Star Game at Smoothie King Center on February 19, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Blue Ivy Carter dressed up with her parents, who went as Barbie and Ken for Halloween. Her leather jacket bore the Barbie logo as well.
Beyoncé stepped out in head-to-toe pink Gucci, while her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, wore a distressed denim, “Slay” jacket and pink Converse sneakers to match.
Beyoncé stepped out in head-to-toe pink Gucci, while her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, wore a patched denim jacket. But of course, their Gucci bags matched.
Blue Ivy Carter and Beyoncé went for a stroll on Mother’s Day in 2016. Carter wore all-pink with flowers in her hair, and her mother complimented her in red and orange.
A young Blue Ivy Carter got into her mother’s makeup kit, it seems. Here, she applies lipstick in a sequin tutu with rhinestone stickers on her forehead.
Similarly, is there any better way for Beyoncé to demonstrate how much power she has over the world than naming her and Jay-Z’s daughter something as seemingly random, ridiculous, and impossible to pull off as Blue Ivy? (No—except perhaps naming one of their other children Sir.) In the six years that she’s been on this earth, Blue has, of course, managed to live up to her name, as evidenced by—for starters—her already having a stylist, and liberally scolding her grandma on her Instagram usage.
2. Apple
Gwyneth Paltrow and her daughter Apple in London, July 2005.
Comparatively, this baby name isn’t too odd these days. Still, Apple, which Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin named their newborn in 2004, arguably sparked some of the most creative ones to follow in the 21st century. (Paltrow later elaborated to Oprah that she chose it because apples are “so sweet,” “wholesome,” “biblical,” and “clean!”)
1. Kulture
The baby may have entered the world less than 48 hours ago, but already, Cardi B and Offset’s offspring has taken the cake with the name Kulture Kiari Cephus. There’s a lot to unpack here: It was bold when Migos named their albums Culture and Culture II, making naming a baby so is even bolder—especially when spelling it with a Kardashians-adjacent K. What’s more, Cardi unveiled the baby’s name via a pregnancy portrait that strikingly resembled Beyoncé’s. Is there anyone she’s not afraid to mess with?
Related: The Official Ranking of Kardashian Baby Names, from North West to True Thompson
A Guide to the Many, Many New Celebrity Babies of 2018 (So Far)
Dakota Johnson is now officially a godmother, thanks to her pal Addison Timlin and Timlin’s longtime boyfriend Jeremy Allen White, whom you may recognize from Shameless,
Midway through October, the actress Yvonne Strahovski, whom you may recognize as Serena Joy in The Handmaid’s Tale, gave birth to her first child with her husband Tim Loden. The boy’s name hasn’t been officially announced, but it might end up being quite interesting, given Strahovski’s caption on Instagram: “Welcome to the world Peanut.”
Just days after attending Princess Eugenie’s wedding, Pippa Middleton gave birth to her first child with her husband, James Matthews. The baby is also a first for Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, as the newborn is their first-ever first cousin.
Almost immediately after Kate Hudson gave birth to Rani Rose Hudson Fujikawa with her boyfriend Danny Fujikawa at the start of October, she posted on Instagram to share the story behind her newborn daughter’s lengthy name. Pronounced “Ronnie,” “Rani” is in fact a tribute to her grandfather Ron Fujikawa.
Owen Wilson, who has two sons from previous relationships, welcomed another child into his family with the birth of Lyla Aranya Wilson, his newborn daughter with Varunie Vongsvirates, whom he appears to have been dating for years.
Pretty Little Liars star Troian Bellisario and Suits actor Patrick J. Adams welcomed their first daughter on October 8, 2018. The couple has been married since December 2016.
Rachel Weisz, 48, gave birth to her first child with husband Daniel Craig, 50, in August 2018. The couple has been married since 2011.
Hugh Dancy and Claire Danes are the proud parents of a baby boy…again! The actors welcomed their second son in August.
Top model Kasia Struss welcomed her baby Alice into the world in August, sharing a sweet snap of the baby on August 5, 2018.
NBA MVP Stephen Curry and his wife Ayesha Curry’s third child, a boy named Canon, was born on July 2nd. The couple revealed the news on Instagram later that week.
Ever since his wife Crystal Smith delivered Roman Alexander-Raj Smith, her second child—following another son named Prince—with Ne-Yo. He now has four kids in total, and already isn’t opposed to a fifth, telling Us Weekly, “if wifey decides she wants to go through that again, I’m not gonna stand in her way.”
After some “home-birth realness,” Kimberley and James Van Der Beek gave birth to their fifth child—a daughter named Gwendolyn who, given the family’s track record, will likely soon be blonde.
In early June, in Berlin, Veronika Heilbrunner gave birth to her first child with her husband and fellow street-style star Justin O’Shea. Here, he celebrates his first Father’s Day on their son’s Tiffany & Co. baby nap mat—an auspicious sign that the family’s fashion legacy will continue.
In what may be the closest we ever get to a Devil Wears Prada sequel, in April, Emily Blunt’s sister Felicity Blunt gave birth to a baby girl with her husband Stanley Tucci, who’s now a father of five.
Watch out, Jaden Smith—there’s a new Jayden in town. That’s as of the end of May, when the Topshop heiress Chloe Green gave birth to her first child, a baby boy, with Jeremy Meeks, aka the Hot Felon, whom she’s been dating since last May.
Just before May came to an end, as she put it, two became three for America Ferrera and her husband Ryan Piers Williams; she announced the birth of their son Sebastian Piers Williams on May 29—along with the fact that they’ve already nicknamed him Baz.
Just when you thought Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, and their daughter Luna couldn’t get any cuter, in late May, the family managed to take up a notch by adding the newborn Miles Theodore Stephens into the mix, who so far seems to be getting along with his older sis just fine.
The model Miranda Kerr not only gave birth to her and her husband Evan Spiegel’s son named Hart this May; she also gave birth to the baby who just might end up being the heir of Snapchat.
In January, Kirsten Dunst kicked off the year by confirming those pesky pregnancy rumors via none other than a photo shoot for Rodarte. She gave birth this May, choosing with her fiancé, the actor Jesse Plemons, to name their son Ennis Howard Plemons.
Kate Middleton shut down London for a day this April when she gave birth to His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge, her third child with Prince William, whom Princess Charlotte has certainly taken to.
Coco Rocha and her husband James Conran already had a three-year-old daughter named Ioni when the model gave birth to their son Iver Eames Conran in April. Now, less than a year later, he even has his own Instagram.
There’s no better proof that Nicholas Hoult, the boy who starred in About a Boy has moved on from his childhood days, than the fact that as of this spring, he’s now a dad, having had a child with his girlfriend, the model Bryana Holly.
Where to begin with Khloé Kardashian’s baby, True Thompson? After months and months of rumors—and a last-minute, action-packed scandal with her NBA star boyfriend, Tristan Thompson, Kardashian gave birth in April, in Cleveland.
Though she’s managed to keep it entirely out of the spotlight, Rachel McAdams reportedly gave birth to a baby with her boyfriend, the screenwriter Jamie Linden, some time before April of this year. (They’ve kept things so under the wraps, in fact, that they have yet to make a requisite couple appearance on the red carpet.)
The birth of Seth Meyers and Alexi Ashe’s second child together didn’t go quite as smoothly as the first; Ashe actually delivered Axel Strahl Meyers this May in the lobby of their apartment building.
Having conquered fashion blogging, Chiara Ferragni, aka The Blonde Salad, gave birth to her first child, whom she’s nicknamed Leo, this March. (She’s currently engaged to the Italian rapper fiancé Fedez.)
Actor Eddie Redmayne and PR executive Hannah Bagshawe, who’ve been married since 2014, welcomed their son Luke Richard into their family, which also includes their daughter Iris Mary, this March.
Just after Valentine’s Day, Behati Prinsloo gave birth to her second child with Adam Levine, a daughter named Gio Grace who, according to the model, has her father’s toes.
Vanessa Nadal, an attorney and a scientist who happens to be married to Hamilton mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda. gave birth to their second child, Francisco Miranda, in early February.
