9 Celebrities Who Admit to Changing Their Child's Name

Almost always an open book, comedian Amy Schumer recently admitted that she changed her son's name when he was nearly 1 year old. The entertainer had her first child with husband Chris Fischer in May 2019, and named him Gene Attell Fischer. There's nothing terribly strange about the name, but the couple later realized that when said together, their son's first and middle names sounded like "genital." That's a good reason for a name change. The baby's middle name is now David.

Singer Grimes and her former billionaire boyfriend, Elon Musk, had their first child in the spring of 2020 and named him something so unfathomable it can't even be pronounced. The baby boy's name is X Æ A-12, but they were forced to alter it legally because the original moniker featured non-English characters as well as numbers. Their son's name is now X AE-XII. "X, the unknown variable. Æ, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence), A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent + (A = Archangel, my favorite song) (metal rat)," Grimes explained via Twitter.

Reality TV personalities Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra of MTV's Teen Mom OG had their second child and originally planned to name her Tezlee. We have no idea what that means or how they could have come up with it, but it's definitely a strange one. It didn't take them long to realize it, either. Catelynn confessed that at some point, every time they heard someone say Tezlee, they cringed, so they named their baby girl Vaeda Luna instead. While Vaeda is definitely not common, it's not unknown. Most of us recognize it from the '90s classic movie My Girl. Luna, of course, falls among the most popular baby girl names of the past few years.

Months after Kylie Jenner gave birth to her second child, a baby boy, she appeared to change his name. Kylie and her ex-boyfriend Travis Scott named their son Wolf Jaques Webster but appeared to have change of heart. They later changed his name to Aire Webster.

When Grey's Anatomy star Caterina Scorsone announced the birth of her third child, she announced that the baby girl's name was Arwen. Arwen is a name made up by author J.R.R. Tolkien for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and means "royal maiden." (It's not an actual name in any language, though.) Roughly three months later, Caterina confirmed in another Instagram post that they actually decided to name the baby Lucinda, which was originally going to be her middle name. 

They call her "Lucky" for short.

After finally finding love, reality TV personalities Jamie Otis and Doug Henher have had two children together. There was a little hiccup with their newest addition's name, though. The couple had originally named their son Hayes, but once he was born, they were convinced that his name should have actually been Hendrix — so they changed it legally. Both names, though, are more often than not surnames — so while they are good strong names, either is still unusual as a first name.

Actress Cameron Diaz and her rocker husband, Benji Madden, had their first baby at the end of 2019 and named her Raddix. Though the couple has been private when it comes to their child, it's been reported that her full name is actually Raddix Chloe Wildflower Madden. "Chloe Wildflower" is quite pretty, but Raddix is definitely out there. Maybe one day we'll find out how Cameron and Benji came up with it. 

We wonder if they ever call her "Rad."

Eccentric actor Nicolas Cage and his former wife, Alice Kim, named their only child together Kal-El. Yes, Kal-El as in Superman's Krypton name. We totally get the feeling of wanting to empower our kiddos with a strong name, but it's just plain weird to name a child after an alien from a fictional planet. Couldn't they have just gone with Clark — or Kal even?

Actor and comedian Jason Lee might be best known for his leading role on the hit 2000s sitcom My Name is Earl, but he certainly wasn't content with a name like Earl. In 2003, he and his then-fiancée, Beth Riesgraf, named their first child Pilot Inspektor. (Yes, ya read that right.) Apparently, they were inspired by the lyrics from a song by the rock band Grandaddy, which go "He's simple, he's stupid, he's the pilot." 

OK, then.

Actress and activist Alicia Silverstone's only child is her 9-year-old son, named Bear Blu. To be honest, his name sounds like it should belong to a character from a children's story book. Alicia explained that her and then husband Christopher Jarecki were choosing between the names Bear and Blu and ultimately decided to go with both. Not sure where the inspiration came from, but we guess these days, either name wouldn't raise quite as many eyebrows.

Cardi B is known for being totally over-the-top, so it wasn't that much of a surprise when she revealed that her baby's name is Kulture Kiari. While the name Kulture is definitely unconventional, Kiari is different but still sounds like a name. That's because it's actually Cardi's husband Offset's real first name. Kulture was likely in honor of Offset's rap group Migos' two albums, Culture and Culture II. Unusual for sure, but maybe not quite so outlandish.

In true celebrity fashion diva extraordinaire, Mariah Carey and her then-husband, entertainer Nick Cannon, gave their twins names that are definitely not average. Their daughter's name is Monroe, which isn't common, but it's still a regular name. But their son  is named Moroccan. We can assume that it's because maybe they love Morocco — or that the country holds some special significance to them — but it's just not a name for a person. These days, Mariah usually refers to her son as "Roc," which isn't quite as out there as Morocco.

Pop singer and entrepreneur Jessica Simpson has three children, and the first two have relatively normal names: Maxine and Ace. For her youngest, though, she went a bit more quirky. Her name is Birdie Mae. Birdie is a really cute name for a nickname, and Mae is a classic Southern name that definitely honors Jessica's roots — but it's certainly a bit different than the average baby name.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and his wife, Juliette Norton, have five children ... and they all, we repeat all, have unusual names. There's Poppy Honey Rosie, Petal Blossom Rainbow, Daisy Boo Pamela, River Rocket Blue, and Buddy Bear Maurice. It's almost like it became a game after a while, and they just decided to keep giving their kids outlandish names made of random words.

Mason ... OK. Penelope ... OK. Reign ... huh, what? That's right, after naming their first two children completely conventional names, Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick went rogue when they named their third child Reign. Maybe they were trying to compete with the unusual names Kourtney's sisters have used for their own children, or maybe it was a nod to Scott's referencing of himself as "The Lord." 

Who knows? 

Either way, Reign is definitely on the weird side.

Legendary musician and activist Sting was hip to the quirky baby names long before it was a trend. He named his first daughter — who is now in her late 30s — Fuchsia. Her middle name is Kate, though, and we can't help wondering if he and his then wife, Frances Tomelty, chose such a basic middle name — in case their daughter chose not to go by the unusual Fuchsia. 

At least they gave her options.

Both of singer Adam Levine's and model Behati Prinsloo's daughters have strange names. Their oldest is named Dusty Rose, and the youngest is Gio Grace. We guess they sound OK, but they're still slightly unusual names. We do wonder if they ever thought of using Grace and Rose as first names, but decided to switch them around just to be different. 

Sounds like something a celeb would do.

Actress Busy Phillips chose the name Birdie for her eldest daughter long before Jessica Simpson's Birdie was a twinkle in her eye — and while we still think that name is a bit offbeat, Busy's youngest daughter's name takes the cake. The little one's name is Cricket, as in the insect. We're totally stumped at how anyone thinking of baby names comes across Cricket. 

Cute kid, though.