Just when I thought the world of celebrity baby names was getting a tad boring, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick chose a  pair of unusual baby names for their twin daughters, who arrived via surrogate in Ohio on June 21.

Joining big brother James Wilke are twins Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge. Bit of a mouthful. Let’s dig deeper.

According to a report in People, the names “Elwell” and “Hodge” are both family names on Parker’s side of the fence. Thank goodness. I thought for a moment Parker and Broderick had made them up.

That leaves Marion Loretta and Tabitha. Where did they come from? Marion is sort of a unisex name — think Maid Marion of Robin Hood fame, versus John Wayne’s real name, Marion Robert Morrison. (You didn’t know that?).

Loretta — well, I have to believe either Parker or Broderick or both is a big fan of Loretta Lynn, because that’s the most obvious association. (And the best name of the three, IMO).

And finally, Tabitha. Another name loaded with association. Never mind that it means “gazelle” in Aramaic. This name says “Bewitched” to anyone who remembers 60’s TV, and even if you don’t, there was a TV spinoff named Tabitha in the 70’s. I don’t recall Tabitha in the 2005 Nora Ephron flop.

Whatever the origins, it’s a pretty unusual group of names. And it’s definitely not boring! Drop a comment if you know any more about where the names came from.

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Technorati Tags: celebrity baby names, baby names, celebrity gossip, celebrity babies, Sarah Jessica Parker baby name, Sarah Jessica Parker twins names, Matthew Broderick twins names

Posted on June 24th 2009 and posted to Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, CELEBRITY BABY NAMES | Comments(0)

You expect wacky names from celebrity rock music parents (think music producer Bob Geldof and his brood, including Fifi, Pixie, Peaches, and Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, to name just one family) so it should come as no surprise that rock couple Gerard Way, of My Chemical Romance, and bassist Lyn-Z of Mindless Self Indulgence, have named their newborn daughter Bandit Lee. No word yet on how they came up with that unique baby name.

The big surprise is how modest they have been about the birth. It has become de rigeur for celebrity couples to blab about their new arrivals on Twitter pages — sometimes even giving us a blow-by-blow of the actual birth (See Kimora Lee Simmons, below). So I was oddly touched to see that Way and Lyn-Z had not twittered their way through labor, but actually kept it private! How old-fashioned! How cute! How romantic!

Meanwhile, Baby Phat fashion CEO Kimora Lee Simmons couldn’t stop twittering while she was delivering, keeping her 18,856 followers in the loop as son Kenzo arrived on May 30, letting everyone know she was “having contractions now! Ooo- wee! It’s like WHOA! Love & Light, KLS”

How the heck did she tap that out while she was having contractions? Oh, maybe that’s why it’s only about half the usual 140 characters allowed on Twitter. Giving birth and multi-tasking is asking a lot, even from compulsive Twitterers.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong went a step further in sharing his special moment, as girlfriend Anna Hansen gave birth to son Max on June 4. He annouced the arrival on his Twitter page, but as everyone knows, you can’t post photos on a Twitter page (yet). Undeterred, and determined to show off his 1-day-old son to his almost 1 million followers, Armstrong linked from his Tweet to a baby photo on YFrog. Just in case they were feeling left out, he also linked to the delivering nurse and doctor. What, no photo of Mom?

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Technorati Tags: celebrity baby names, baby names, celebrity gossip, celebrity babies, Lance Armstrong baby name, Kimora Lee Simmons baby name, Gerard Way baby name, Lyn-Z baby name

Posted on June 05th 2009 and posted to CELEBRITY BABY NAMES, Lance Armstrong | Comments(0)