From time to time, I like to pick out a “name of the day,” especially when the flood of new celebrity babies slows to a trickle for a day or so. At times like this, I can  either report on some really obscure “celebrity” birth, such as a new baby for the weather announcer from the early morning show on the second-rated television station in Brisbane, Australia, or I can focus on what makes this blog special – real celebrity baby names.

So let’s get to it. Why would anyone name their son Seven?

I honestly don’t know. But that’s what hip-hop/jazz artist Erykah Badu named her son, who was born in 1997. I can only assume that the number 7 has some special meaning for Badu. Or else for the father, Badu’s ex-boyfriend, André 3000 of OutKast.

Frequently readers of this blog come to my rescue when I don’t know the story behind a name. This may be one of those times. If you know why Erykah Badu named her son Seven, please let me know!

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Posted on May 31st 2007 and posted to CELEBRITY BABIES,NAME OF THE DAY | Comments(19)

NBA All-Star, and Miami Heat guard, Dwyane Wade, and his wife Siohvaughn, welcomed their second son on May 29 in Chicago, with the birth of Zion Malachi Airamis Wade. The baby joins big brother Zaire in the Wade family.

The names Zion and Malachi are time-honored biblical names, but what of Airamis? An alternate spelling of Aramis, of Three Musketeers fame? Probably. When you consider that mom has one of the most original spellings of the Irish name Siobhan that I’ve ever seen (Siohvaughn for Siobhan, pronounced “Shi-vawn”) it makes sense the Wades would have fun with one of their son’s names. Airamis is very cute. And no-one can ever say he was named after a men’s cologne.

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Posted on May 30th 2007 and posted to CELEBRITY BABIES,CELEBRITY BABY NAMES | Comments(1)

British-born Ed Sanders, designer on the popular T.V. show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and his wife Gioia, are in for an extreme makeover to their household, as Gioia Sanders gave birth to three little girls on May 5 in Los Angeles.

The triplets, who join big brother Max, 5, are named Scarlette, Azure, and Lucia. Is it just me, or do the first two names sound like they came from a Benjamin Moore paint chart? Never mind, they’re very cute.

Sanders is a carpenter/designer on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. His latest venture is hosting another ABC show: National Bingo Night, which premiered this month.

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Posted on May 25th 2007 and posted to CELEBRITY BABIES,CELEBRITY BABY NAMES | Comments(1)

Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, and her partner, Heather Poe, welcomed their first child, a son, yesterday in Washington D.C. The baby was born at approximately 9:45 A.M. according to ABC News.

The baby’s name is Samuel David Cheney. He is the sixth grandchild for Vice President and Mrs. Cheney.

Mary Cheney and Heather Poe have been completely open about their lesbian relationship, and the announcement of Cheney’s pregnancy has caused some awkward moments for the Vice President, who is closely-allied with the religious right of the Republican Party, a group that objects to same-sex parents.

But yesterday, the Vice President expressed nothing but pleasure at the arrival of little Samuel David.

With a solid biblical name like Samuel David, the newest Cheney is sure to be a hit with even the most devoutly religious people.

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Posted on May 24th 2007 and posted to CELEBRITY BABIES,CELEBRITY BABY NAMES,Mary Cheney | Comments(1)

Whatever Napoleon Dynamite star Jon Heder and his wife Kirsten have been up to since their baby was born, probably in early April, they haven’t been hitting the baby name books. The new arrival for the pair — their first child, is a baby girl. According to People, they named her Evan Jane.

This is a bold step by the Heders, since Evan is plainly a boy’s name. In fact, it’s the Welsh variant of the name John. If you look at the Social Security Administration’s Popular Baby Names page, you’ll find that Evan has been in the top 100 most popular boys’ names for more than 20 years. In 2006, it was number 42 for boys.

As a girls’ name, by contrast, Evan has never appeared in the top 1000 (that’s thousand). To put it plainly, Evan is a boy’s name. It’s even more strange when you see it paired with Jane, which is about as traditional a girls’ name as you can get.

I’m wondering if there’s a family connection to using Evan here. Heder, who starred recently with Will Ferrell in Blades of Glory, is a member of the Mormon church, where family dynasty means a great deal.

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Posted on May 22nd 2007 and posted to CELEBRITY BABIES,CELEBRITY BABY NAMES | Comments(0)

Actress Nicole Sullivan, one of the original cast members of Fox’s MADtv, and husband Jason Packham, welcomed a baby boy in Los Angeles on May 12. It’s the first child for the couple.

Sullivan, who also starred on CBS’s King of Queens, and Packham, have named their son Dashel Pierce, according to Us Magazine.

The name Dashel seems to be an alternative spelling of the name Dashiell, which was made famous by the American detective story writer Dashiell Hammett. There doesn’t seem to be much history about that name prior to Dashiell Hammett, so changing the spelling is not such a big deal. He’s going to be called Dash anyway, which is actually kinda cute. 

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Posted on May 21st 2007 and posted to CELEBRITY BABIES,CELEBRITY BABY NAMES | Comments(2)

Czech supermodel Eva Herzigova is only a couple of weeks away from giving birth. And she told People this week that she and Italian boyfriend Gregorio Marsiaj are expecting a baby boy.

So do the expectant parents have a suitable baby name ready for the little guy? Well, not exactly. Herzigova told People that they have “a little list of names they like.” And they’ll be waiting for the boy to arrive before making a final choice.

Well, okay. I guess we can wait a couple more weeks.

This will be the first child for the world-famous model, who was married to Tico Torres, the drummer for Bon Jovi, from 1996-1998.

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Posted on May 17th 2007 and posted to CELEBRITY BABIES,CELEBRITY BABY NAMES,Eva Herzigova | Comments(0)

Every year, the Friday preceding Mother’s Day is an important day for anyone interested in the most popular baby names in the United States. That’s the day when the U.S. Social Security Administration posts to its website the data for the previous calendar year showing the most popular baby names in the country. 

It’s like the Academy Awards for the baby names crowd, only not as much fun.

This year, there was hardly any change in the top ten names for both boys and girls. In fact, the top girl’s name in the United States, for the eleventh boring year in a row, is Emily. (Nothing wrong with Emily, but number one for over a decade? Whatever happened to creative baby naming?). And for boys, Jacob was the top baby name for the eighth year in a row. Yawn.

Here is a useful roundup of the top baby names of 2006.

With the exception of Reese Witherspoon’s “Ava,” which made an impressive showing at number 5, and possibly Gwen Stefani’s “Kingston,” debuting in the top 1000 at number 941, I don’t see much crossover from the world of celebrity baby names to the real world. That shouldn’t surprise anyone, since celebrity baby names are on the leading edge of our culture, except in cases where the name has fallen clear over the edge. (Moxie Crimefighter comes to mind, as does Kal-El, Pilot Inspektor, and Apple).

Considering it was 2006, one might have expected the names Shiloh or Suri to crack the top 1000, but there was no sign of either.

If anything, some celebrity baby names seem to reflect the real world, rather than vice versa. Kevin Costner’s new baby boy, Cayden, is a good example. Cayden is an increasingly popular name in the “aden” category, including all kinds of rhyming variants such as Jayden, Braden, Aiden, Kayden, etc. Costner, in fact, is quite the trendy baby namer — his son’s middle name Wyatt, also chosen by Sheryl Crow, is also an increasingly popular name.

The name Sebastian, picked for her son by actress Kim Fields, is also growing more popular, as is Marcia Cross’s “Savannah” and T.V .Psychic John Edwards’s “Olivia.”

But perhaps the biggest name to move between Hollywood and the rest of us is the name Addison, which happens to be the name of Kate Walsh’s character on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. In the 2006 rankings, the name Addison was the fastest-rising name in the top 100, rocketing from number 106 to number 27.

Is it life imitating art, or art imitating life? Or is it all just one big blur?

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Posted on May 16th 2007 and posted to CELEBRITY BABIES,CELEBRITY BABY NAMES,Gwen Stefani,Kevin Costner,Marcia Cross,Sheryl Crow | Comments(0)

Singer Sheryl Crow, in the news most recently for her activism against global warming, announced on May 12 that she has adopted a baby boy.

The 45 year-old Crow, whose engagement to cyclist Lance Armstrong ended early last year, told CNN’s Larry King last summer that she would absolutely consider adoption as a way to have a child.

On her website, Crow offered the following information about her new baby:

“I am so excited to share with you guys that I’ve adopted a little boy ..he was born 2 weeks ago.

His name is Wyatt (after my dad) Steven (after my little brother and Scooter) and we are enjoying some very private family time.”

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Posted on May 14th 2007 and posted to CELEBRITY BABIES,CELEBRITY BABY NAMES,Sheryl Crow | Comments(0)

Jaime Pressly, star of My Name Is Earl, gave birth to a baby boy early today in Los Angeles. Pressly and her fiance Eric Cubiche welcomed their first child together at around 7:30 AM Pacific time, according to US Magazine.

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Pressly and Cubiche already had the baby’s name planned: Dezi James. It comes from a family joke they have about the old I Love Lucy show. I can’t help thinking that when little Dezi gets to grade school, the joke might be getting old.

The post by US Magazine says the baby’s full name is Dezi James Calvo. No word yet on what the joke is with Calvo.

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Posted on May 11th 2007 and posted to CELEBRITY BABIES,CELEBRITY BABY NAMES,Jaime Pressly | Comments(0)