Ryan Reynolds confirms: he & Blake Lively named their daughter ‘James’

wenn21344435

Thank God Ryan Reynolds has stopped playing the “I’m Not Going To Tell You My Baby’s Name” Game. It was getting boring anyway, because A) all of us believed E! News’ “source” who said the baby is named James and B) Ryan played the game too often and everyone stopped covering it. So… what better way to get some headlines than just coming out and confirming the name. The baby is named… James. Which we already knew. But it’s nice to a have a confirmation at long last.

Ryan Reynolds confirmed the moniker on NBC’s Today in an interview with Willie Geist. Of course, he didn’t admit to it without making some hilarious jokes first.

“You did say a few months ago, before she was born, that you were going to name her Excalibur Anaconda Reynolds,” Geist said. “So can we call her Anna at least—short for Anaconda?”

Reynolds confirmed to Geist that he and his Gossip Girl-starring wife didn’t go with Excalibur, but instead went with a more…seasonal choice.

“That is not the child’s name,” Reynolds said, dead seriously. “It’s Butternut Summersquash.”

Of course, he couldn’t keep up the jig for long. “It’s James,” the new dad finally admitted. “Everyone knows.”

[From E! News]

Butternut Summersquash? That’s totally what Blake wants to name their SON, people. The second daughter will be named Anthony Heirloom Tomato (Tony Tomato for short).

So, now that we’ve got the confirmation, can we all roll our eyes at naming this baby “James”? They don’t even say if she’s going to go by a nickname, like Jamie or Jimmy or Jammy. Let’s just call her Sweet Baby James.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

wenn22169405

Photos courtesy of WENN.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

103 Responses to “Ryan Reynolds confirms: he & Blake Lively named their daughter ‘James’”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. mimif says:

    Phew. I was really starting to worry about this.

    • Bridget says:

      This has really been keeping me up at night. Celebrity baby names are serious business.

      Side note: Blade: Trinity was on TV last night and I’d forgotten how hot Ryan was. I really hope he can get some of that back.

    • QQ says:

      You know This is the Reason I woke you early!!

    • Kiddo says:

      Effortless name.

    • Termoli77 says:

      I never really paid any attention to this actor but now I can’t stand him. Has he always been an a-hole or only just recently after he married her. Oh look at them – they’re so private and guarded. How phony and pretentious. Nobody cares what he named his kid and that stupid explanation that twenty years from now the daughter was going to be outraged because he announced her name to the public. Yeah right.

      • Lee says:

        Has he always been an a-hole or only just recently after he married her.

        ha! Still trying to figure it out! He says he values privacy but he’s milked every chance he had to speak about his daughter in the past 3 months.
        Why didnt they simply announce the baby was born and both mom and child were ok + name or no name at all, instead of keeping this ‘secret’ going on?

      • anonymous says:

        Obviously enough attention was paid to him to think that maybe Blake had something to do w/his personality change. They really do seem to mind their own business after 3 months of being private & trying to sustain a family w/ a new baby the public right to their lives has gotten out of hand. He has been called stupid, weird, “Azz” pretentious , publicity hounds all because people are just plain nosey and very mad because they tweet out the name from the delivery room. He has not been promoting the baby he is being asked these questions over & over He is promoting his movies not his family so I suspect he confirmed it so they will quit asking.

      • Serene says:

        I think he has always been an asshole. He treated Alanis Morrisette like crap! I will not stand for that lol. Alanis deserved better.

    • Nicolette says:

      I know right?! We can all breathe a sigh of relief now.

    • Anne tommy says:

      Kinda the reverse of A Boy Named Sue…

  2. mememe says:

    I love it.

  3. Lee says:

    So, he didnt want to be the first screaming out the name, but he let a ‘source’ do it weeks ago and then he confirmed it….makes sense…
    Gosh, this is a great way to milk media’s attention.

    • anonymous says:

      Well it is not his fault that people are nosey and demanded to have answers yesterday. They may want to control how & when this name was revealed. Ryan’s story about how this will play out in the future was just there. I would bet in an interview he probable just said the 1st thing that came to mind. I have no idea what my answers would be if I were asked over & over for an explanation that you don’t want to explain.!

      • Lee says:

        I respect your opinion but I don’t agree. He played Letterman’s ‘guess the name’ game for half hsi interview there. He is an actor, he has a PR team, I remember it was said his team asked not to make him questions about his marriage after he tied the knot with Blake and was promoting some cartoon he had dubbed, so I suppose he could have done the same thing with the baby if he wanted privacy.
        It can be done, many other actors, even more famous than then, have managed to have privacy.

  4. INeedANap says:

    It’s telling that it’s considered cool to give girls a boy’s name, but unthinkable to give boys a girl’s name.

    And James, besides, is a bridge too far. I hope they name their eventual son Elizabeth.

    • lisa2 says:

      I actually like the name Elizabeth James Reynolds..

    • OriginalTessa says:

      My cousin is names James after our great grandfather. She goes by Jamie, or James, which said in the context of a nickname (think Jules or Jess) sounds totally normal for a girl. It’s really not the worst. I kind of like it.

    • Cecada says:

      I work with a man whose name is Stacy… And yes, he hates it.

      • OriginalTessa says:

        Stacy is a boys name. A lot of girls names are boys names… Ashley, Courtney, Stacy, Whitney…

      • Dani says:

        Those are NOT boys names. Maybe Morgan, Parker, Ash (not Ashley) because they’re neutral. When I think of Courtney or Whitney I immediately think female.

      • Erinn says:

        Stacy is technically a boys name. “As a feminine name, it came into general use during the 1950s, though it had earlier been in use as a rare masculine name.” I’ve known more than one male Stacy, actually.

      • Jen43 says:

        @Dani

        Stacy, Courtney, Ashley are all originally boys names. Tracy, also. I dont know about Whitney. Not to be disrespectful, but you must be young. 🙂

      • OriginalTessa says:

        Uh, yeah they are, Dani.

      • Lady D says:

        Leslie, Tracy, Ricky, Marion, all boys names at one time.

      • Crumpet says:

        Yeah, John Wayne’s given name was Marion.

        I have a traditionally boy’s name, and I named my daughter an Irish-Gaelic surname. You can do anything you want with names IMO.

      • venus velvet says:

        Stacy is sometimes the nickname for Eustace.

    • TeaAndSympathy says:

      Does this mean the trend for giving babies surnames is finally at an end and we’re now giving hale names to females and vice versa? (Madison, Bailey, Taylor, Hunter, Tyler, Hudson, Logan, Mackenzie et al? Can’t stand them.) If I ever have another girl I’d seriously consider naming her Arthur. Not. Sorry, not liking this name at all.

  5. Lucybelle says:

    I love the name James-for a boy or a girl. My beloved Grandpa was named James. I don’t want kids but if I ever did have one I would name it James, regardless of the sex.

    • Rachel says:

      I am not having children either, but had I ever had a child- boy or girl- that baby would have been named Stuart.

      • Lucybelle says:

        Love it! Fist bump to a fellow childfree with imaginary kids with “ridiculous” names! 😉

      • Isa says:

        I love the name james too!!
        I also name my imaginary cats. I have a Minerva and a Wren.

      • Rachel says:

        I bet your imaginary cats would love my imaginary pygmy goats, Bojangles and Penelope.

  6. Jag says:

    I hate the name James for a girl. She will live her life always having to explain that she’s female in class and over the phone.

    Jimmy wouldn’t be any better. Why do celebrities do such things?

    • Belle Epoch says:

      JAG I agree. A lifetime of letters dressed to Mr. james Reynolds and being assigned to dorm rooms with guys. It’s like A Boy Named Sue! Too gimmicky and the child will pay for it. Try hards.

    • Erinn says:

      I doubt she’d be explaining she’s a female in class or over the phone, because she’d be in sight or heard.

      The only time it’s an issue is if someone is reading off a list and hadn’t seen her identified as that name. But if she walked up to someone and said “Hey my names James” it’d be accepted – especially in younger grades, I’d think.

      She might even go by Jamie, or hell, her middle name.

      Maybe she’ll get teased a bit. But maybe people should teach their kids not to be such little assholes that tease people for their names. Just a thought. There are far worse names to get.

      • Nope not that easy. People in Britain always think I’m supposed to be a boy and I always have to explain it to them. Sometimes in France too. And Ashley isn’t exactly James

    • Crumpet says:

      It’s really not a big deal. I’ve always liked that my name was different and couldn’t care less if people thought I was a male until they met me or spoke to me.

    • Spin says:

      I agree! WHHHYYYYYYYY

  7. Illyra says:

    Not a fan.

    It seems like eventually there will be two types of names: girls only and unisex

  8. Leona says:

    James? Yes how perfectly…..curated. These people are ridiculous.

    • Esmom says:

      I don’t hate the name but it does seem to fit with their contrived image, which therefore makes it somewhat annoying.

    • Prince Valiant says:

      Actually, James is his father names, who is severely ill. I know this is a man’s name. In my country, however, Andrea is a man’s name but we are not shocked when we are introduced to an English or American woman by the name of Andrea. The same with Rosario, which in my country is a man’s name while in hispanic countries it is a female name.

  9. Gia says:

    It’s cute, way better than Wyatt. Wyatt makes me cringe. It’s like naming a boy Tiffany, Hate it!!

  10. MrsBPitt says:

    I really like the name James….for a boy! Sorry, I’m old fashioned (or maybe, just old) James is the name of my brother and my brother-in-law. It will never be a girl’s name to me. Of course, not my baby, not my decision…

  11. kibbles says:

    Two C-list stars who will be more well known for their baby and a wannabe Goop lifestyle site that not a lot of people are talking about.

  12. Shannon says:

    Eh, I think it’s kind of cute. When I was pregnant with my son, I considered naming him/her my maiden name (a traditional boy name) whether I had a boy or a girl. I decided against it because it’s spelled in an untraditional way, and I didn’t want my kid to go through years of teachers thinking his parents just couldn’t spell lol.

  13. Zee says:

    Maybe I’m just weird, but I love the name James for a girl. I hold no love for Blake or Ryan but I’ll admit I like the name.

    Then again, I’ve always had a thing for traditionally male names for girls. In fact, the name I have in mind for a future girl always gets some “this chick is crazy” stares from friends and family. Oh well.

    • Wren33 says:

      Blake and Ryan are such unisex names, that I am not surprised they picked a boy name for their girl. It is a little weird, but Jamie is a fairly common girl nickname now.

  14. Tiffany says:

    What is the name of the movie he is promoting. See, I already forgot.

  15. Why didn’t they use the feminine equivalent? Jamison? Jamie? She’ll probably not be called James anyway. But tbh, I like gender neutral names for girls. I hate cutesy names. Eventually babies will be 80 years old. When I’m in the nursing home, I’ll be in there with Candys, Bambis, Cinnamons, and Heavens. Wth were their parents thinking?

  16. Velvet Elvis says:

    Welcome James to a lifetime of mistaken gender.

    • Sarah says:

      It hardly matters…my sister is Alexandra and so many idiots think that’s a boy’s name.. for real…. she goes by Alex so people don’t know her gender by email or from a list. They work it out pretty quickly and it is no big deal at all. Alex is a fairly common name for both genders so little Jane5s is among good company. People here are just criticising for funz!

  17. oneshot says:

    I’m just wondering which of her parents’ original noses baby James is going to get.

  18. Cindy says:

    Oh thank god. There has been a hole in my soul filled with emptiness because i did not know the mystery of this child’s name. I continued on bravely with my days, but inside there was sadness. Now I am whole again, filled with reassurance. Thank you Ryan Reynolds, thank you.

    • Paris says:

      I know, right? Why do they act like they’ll be revealing state secrets or something . . .

  19. Imo says:

    I know I’m supposed to hate this but I don’t. I draw the line, however, at Richard.

  20. Greek Chic says:

    The gown in the first picture is everything.

  21. FingerBinger says:

    James is fine. It could have been worse. Moxie Crimefighter for example.

  22. TeresaMaria says:

    I have a soft spot for Ryan Reynolds. Not for his looks, but he comes across very well in interviews. Just watched an old episode of Top Gear and he was hilarious, explaining how he always manages to get injured while filming.
    As for the name … well, I have always thought that everyone should name their child as they please. At the end the parents themselves have to deal with their kid’s frustration about it.

  23. lisa2 says:

    I think every child should be given a temporary name when they are children. Then say at 15 or 16 you get to pick the name you will have for your adult life. You can keep the original name or change it. Like a NAME CELEBRATION or something..

    I think that would be amazing. Because are at the mercy of your parents for the name they give you. I like that idea myself.

    • OriginalTessa says:

      No fifteen year old should make any long term life decisions. Fifteen year olds are the morons of the planet.

      • lisa2 says:

        Well looking at some of the names grown ups have come up with I don’t think a 15 year old could do any worse.

        Besides what’s wrong with opening up a baby book and finding a name. Couldn’t do any worse than some of the interesting choices ADULTS have given children.

    • Jen43 says:

      Doesn’t Germany have a list of approved baby names, or was someone pulling my leg when they told me that?

      • MP says:

        I don’t know about Germany but Iceland has a list of approved names where you can choose from.
        In my country naming laws have been very strict too. I don’t like that they are getting looser, parents should find other means of expressing their unique creativity than naming their baby something ridiculous.

      • MmeRain says:

        @MP well what is ridiculous for you might not for someone else. My mom kind of made all our names and the ones of my cousins and nephew and these are absolutely gorgeous names. Some lady tried to tell my sister that she should change the name of my nephew when she registered him but she just went with it. I agree baby shouldn’t be named Motorway or Dollarzz but why should some people decide what’s good and what’s not ?

        James is a fine name, even for a girl, maybe she’ll like it, maybe she’ll hate it. I remember i wondered why my mom didn’t choose another name for me when I was younger but I wouldn’t trade it for the world now. And I even get compliments 😀

      • Valois says:

        There are some rules, like: No nicknames, nothing that is supposed to be offensive or make fun of the baby, correct spelling, some names are forbidden (Adolf, Kain, …) aaaand: You cannot give boys a girls name et vice versa

    • supposedtobeworking says:

      I hate my name and its a very feminine name. I’d prefer James.

  24. Dońt kill me i'm french says:

    Finally! I was desesperated! I didn’t sleep anymore

    • Tough Cookie says:

      yes, I will FINALLY be able to sleep tonight as well. Thank You, Ryan Gosling…I mean Ryan Reynolds, wait…is this the Ryan sweatpants or the Ryan baby name???…why are they both in the news today??? I’m so confused!!

      • Dońt kill me i'm french says:

        You’re my twin mind!
        The James is the 1rst reason of divorce and Sweatpant is a different name for a kid

    • GingerCrunch says:

      To our French friend: your comments are awfully cute today! Merci beaucoup!

  25. Alyce says:

    I like the name. It seems weird to me that a lot of people are like, “But it’s a BOY name!” whilst clutching their pearls. Especially since this site is generally for feminists.

  26. Manticore says:

    I have known a few girls named Semaj, which is James backwards. Its pronounced Say-mah-jay or Suh-Mahj.

    These girls are always named after a beloved family member. Always loved the idea.

  27. mrspatrickbateman says:

    I was just watching Friends on Netflix yesterday and it was the episode Rachel is coming up with names for her baby. She says she loves James but only if it’s a girl. Maybe Ryan and Blake are Friends fans.

  28. The Original Mia says:

    Guess there wasn’t enough interest in his Deadpool news the other day. Gotta drum up interest somehow.

  29. Shay says:

    Ugh. They stole my name. I wanted to name my future daughter James.

  30. Anastasia says:

    This is strange, but years ago, I thought James would be a cool name for a girl. I felt like I was the first one, but apparently not. I had a student whose middle name was James and she was a girl.

    I don’t really have an opinion of these people–hardly know who she is–but I kind of like James for a girl. Of course, everyone and I mean EVERYONE is going to think she’s a guy until they meet her. So that’ll be annoying.

  31. pnichols says:

    who cares. these two are as exciting as a gum scraping.

  32. Starling says:

    I don’t love the name but I think she’s named after his father. Just did a Wikipedia check – I think that’s sweet (though it could be an aren’t we cool reference too).

    • Lee says:

      Everything’s possible, Ryan’s father’s not dead, just for the record. He’s ill with parkinson but he’s alive.

  33. Courtney says:

    Perhaps they could’ve just used James as a middle name. That would give their daughter a more traditionally female first name, preserved the family connection of using James, and then she could choose which to use.

  34. Jaded says:

    At least it’s not a “place” name – Montana, Dallas, Ireland, Dakota, Bronx, Brooklyn (or Brooklin as a friend’s daughter named her baby). Although some of the small towns around where I live (southern Ontario) would be interesting! Pefferlaw, Azilda, Buzwah….

    • Esmom says:

      True. Recently I heard a woman reprimanding her child, a little girl named “Indiana.” Maybe it was just me but it seemed like she was trying to say her name as much as possible as loudly as possible. It was really grating.

    • **sighs** says:

      I would love to hear some Florida town names…Thonotosassa, Withlacoochee, Wewahitchka, Homosassa, and the gently southern Yeehaw.

  35. ughinsomnia says:

    Well, my daughter’s middle name is James. Obviously, I like it.

  36. Nikki says:

    For better or worse, your name is one of the first pillars of your identity, and influences how people react to you. Ima Hogg always knew her name was a JOKE, but how selfish was her dad? As a teacher, I saw some real doozies, and it’s tough for a kid to ALWAYS have to “explain” his/her name. I personally think each baby is unique enough already; I don’t understand why parents want a totally “unique” name in a world with so many people. . My friend Jaime is always saying she’s not pronounced “Hi me” and she’s not a male. I don’t like James for a girl, but agree there are lots worse! Also agree I wasn’t losing sleep over not knowing! Just named my terrier-looking rescue mutt Tavish; my mom in law hates it and my son’s friend said it’s bougie!

  37. Kara says:

    I remember when Jamie King the actress was James King the model. I like James for a girl I just think it is stupid as hell that they were gasp! holding out on the name, thinking people actually give a flying f*ck what these two doorknobs do in life.

  38. Snowpea says:

    I’m gonna be one of those sad fools who troll stories about celebs they don’t care about in order to write ‘Who cares?’.

    But seriously, these two get on my last wick. Ryan is seriously forgettable and a mediocre actor. Blake is so damn manufactured. You just know if you stayed over at her house she’d serve homemade jams with gingham cloth lids for breaky and make a big show of explaining that she went foraging for the figs at midnight. Wearing an antique white cotton dress carrying a wicker basket. On a blue moon. And drank drops of dew from the leaves of nasturtiums while humming edelweiss.

    She is so damn annoying.