Seth Meyers and his wife Alexi Ashe welcomed their first child over the weekend. Seth’s rep confirmed the birth of a baby boy, but we still didn’t know the name. Seth was saving the story of the name and the birth for his late-night show, and by the way… whatever happened to paternity leave? Why is Seth Meyers back on the air two nights after his wife gave birth? That’s a conversation for another time, I guess. Because Seth spent seven minutes of his show last night talking about the birth of his first child, and it was adorable. First of all, they named their son Ashe Olsen. Ashe is his wife’s maiden name and Olsen is Seth’s mother’s maiden name. So… his son got matriarchal names! Is Seth Meyers woke? Here’s the segment, and I would suggest watching the whole thing, because he’s a really charming storyteller.
This is such a New Yorker story – the doorman helping them to the Uber, their original plans to have brunch and go to a show, the part about Alexi screaming out the window and unfazed New Yorkers not paying any attention. Regarding the name, Seth told his audience:
“A couple of people have said to us, ‘Ashe Olsen—do you think people will think you named him after Ashley Olsen?’ And to them I said, ‘No one will think that because I’ve long been a Mary-Kate [Olsen] guy.'”
It’s funny because that’s what I thought too – not that he was making a reference to the Olsen sisters, but that his kid is going to get those questions all of his life, probably. “Oh, were your parents big Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen fans?”
I can also confirm that when you have a baby in New York you pretty much just sing "The Schuyler Sisters" for the first 12 hours.
— Seth Meyers (@sethmeyers) March 28, 2016
Photos courtesy of WENN.
My daughter was born in 2012 and we named her Elsa, something lovely and relatively uncommon. Frozen came out a year later, and from that day forward, everyone assumes we are Disney freaks. She will forever be told to “let it go”.
I relate to the Ashley Olsen struggle!! It’s annoying. But it’s life.
Yeah that’s not going to go away lol the legs on that movie are unbelievable. The Christmas ads had entire pages devoted to Frozen toys. It had already been out for two years!
I’m so sorry… at least you can always point out she was born before the movie came out! And it’s still a really beautiful name.
Do you watch Jane the Virgin? A character (who is Russian) just gave birth to twin girls and named them Elsa and Anna. After Jane’s predictable reaction, the mom dismissed the movie reference and said “no one else will think that”. It made me shudder to the point of hoping the writers have her change their names eventually.
When I was born, my mom didn’t know of any other Brittneys. Then the late 80’s happened, and then Britney Spears happened… so I’m really obsessed with finding one-of-a-kind names for my future kids. I’m sure celebrities or fictional characters will ruin my precious snowflake names like a week after they’re born, though.
@kb yeah DEFINITELY not dying down like I hoped!! Lol
@brittney it’s almost a tick for me now. Somebody asks her name, I tell them, they start to light up, and I kill it instantly with the joke “she came a year before the movie and we thought, nobody in kindy will have THAT name!” And then they laugh.
Little girls though…. Just stare in awe! 😮
Before we had our second girl, what do you think people suggested her little sister be named? Yeah no.
Good luck naming your babes someday! Hope Disney doesn’t ruin it 😂
“His son got matriarchal names” Not really if both names were his wife’s and mother-in-laws father’s last names. Which I’m sure they are.
good point. no woman keeps “her own name”, its either her husbands, her fathers or her grandfathers.
I think it’s lovely…if they want to think of the names as matriarchal good for them!! For some reason I think of my maiden name as MY name, not my father’s. It’s all how you look at it, I guess…
@esther: Yeah but even though I was born with the same last name as my father, it’s MY name. It’s my dad’s, but it’s also mine.
Not fair to say no woman has a name, it’s only her father’s. My father doesn’t have his name either in that context. It’s his great great great great….
I HATE this argument. A woman’s surname is not ‘on loan’ to her from her father until she gets married. I was born with it-it is mine. Just like my husband’s last name is HIS-not his father’s. If we look at it that way-no one’s names ‘belong’ to them, and it shouldn’t be a big deal for a guy to change their name when they get married as it doesn’t ‘belong’ to them anyway.
Why is it a woman’s name is never her own? Why does it always have to be framed as belonging to someone else?
But you know where women DO keep their own name? In the Middle East. And they are most definitely a patriarchal society. Are they “woke”? I think not.
People have been using their mother’s or wife’s maiden name as their child’s first name forever, at least in the south. I don’t think it’s particularly woke, which I had to look up and dislike very much as an expression.
I refuse to even look it up, so you’re ahead of me, ahah.
We have some maiden names as names in our family as well – Wishart being one example (as a middle name).
I always like the idea of passing along names, whether it was surnames or given names. I do like that Seth used two – for the most important ladies in his life. That was kind of sweet. And it’s a nice name – if you don’t jump to Ashley Olson – which, hey, growing up probably won’t be a huge problem in his peer group anyway.
Totally agree. Really really stupid slang.
And of course maiden names are used for children’s first names. Happens all the time. Hardly cutting edge or worthy of any feminist note.
Someone just explained “woke” on another post, otherwise I would have been looking it up too. I too dislike it as an expression.
I like using family names as middle names. Ashe Olsen Meyers sounds good.
I despise “woke” too. What happened to just speaking normal English (if you’re English speaking!) Stupid hip words like “woke” make me want to bludgeon someone.
OMG GNAT! Yes, and yes! I don’t know why, but “woke” really rubs me the wrong way. And probably a full half of both boys and girls from the south use family names as first names. That’s why we have little girls with names like “Grayson” and “White”. It’s so normal where I’m from. At least among upper middle class white folks.
I guess upper middle class white people in the South are “woke” then?
I like this word “woke”. We never come across it here in Britland so I think I will start using it in the hopes it makes a transatlantic crossing.
What does it mean? Woke? He woke up?
I don’t get it either. I thought “woke” was a typo on the heading.
Being aware – in the sense of social injustice, structural injustice. Root – the verb to wake up (to said injustices). I’m a know-nothing Britisher so am still checking the various shades of meaning and appropriate contexts. But once I’ve fully got it, I will be using it!
I never heard it used that way….I love learning something new. I can tell my husband “see? It’s NOT just a celeb gossip site that brings out my mean streak and uses up hours of my time…..I actually LEARN things!!”
I don’t understand it either. Someone please explain?
I don’t. It means you are aware of everything going on around you. It comes from stay woke. I disapprove. 😁
Why, GNAT? I’m not disagreeing: I just don’t know if there is a background or one or more contexts that I am missing. I really like it based on what I understand so far. But then, I am a word geek and I enjoy it when language updates to new realities.
me either. not into ‘woke’. but I’m old, so there’s that . . . .
@GoodNamesAllTaken
I picture you waving a cane while critiquing woke lol.
I like it too. I’d never heard it in the US either, FWIW.
Is it the new “with it” then?
Welp, guess it went well for his wife. Hope that poor woman doesn’t need help. The things we expect women who’ve just given birth to be able to do…I kinda think Seth should’ve pulled a Mark Zuckerberg, set a good example, and taken a nice substantial paternity leave. Normalize it, men, and make the world a better place.
They are a cute couple and I love the baby’s name (and the reason behind it)
Why does he need a paternity leave? His wife is not helpless. He lives in the same city he works in as a talk show host. And maybe he is saving leave to take time off when the season is over…tv shows live and die by ratings.
because his partner had a baby. And because he has a baby.
Yeah!
True, but lots of men don’t take time off. My husband didn’t. Not that I couldn’t have used the support, but it’s just not that uncommon.
Doing that would sound completely bonkers with names in my country, so this sounds very interesting. I’m kinda jealous how anything can be a name in America.
On another note, the two of them look very related.
Very funny and sweet story
Can anyone tell me what “woke” means in this context please?
In this context, it means he’s a “woke” feminist who named his son after his wife and his mother.
It’s slang for “awakened”, basically. It’s spreading like wildfire right now among progressives on social media… it’s basically used to describe people who are aware of their privilege or aware of greater social issues.
I don’t think kids of Ashe Olsen’s generation will even know who The Olsen twins were. So I guess none of their classmates/friends will make that connection.
That’s what I was thinking. They won’t know about Mary-Kate and Ashley.
But even if they did… Olsen is just the middle name, no? When I read that he gave his son his wife’s name, I thought it meant his wife and son would share the same last name — otherwise it’s not exactly subverting the patriarchy. But if his wife’s last name is the first name and his mother’s maiden name is the middle name, I assume the last name is still HIS last name: Meyers. So his name will basically just be Ashe Meyers. I know very few children who went by their full names.
Side-note: what if his wife always had her heart set on the name Oscar? THAT would be a set-up for a lifetime of jokes.
Darling name for a boy but perilously close to a certain child star twin’s name IMO LOLOL!
I don’t know how it works for Y’all, but my hubby had NO SAY in our baby names. If he passes anything over 6lbs he is welcome to name it. Perhaps his wife is the one who’s woke!
I was thinking the same…why would anyone assume that he was the only one who “named” the baby?
What’s funny is this is very common in other countries. I love when we do something here and all of a sudden act like its super special and “woke”. IMO the woke term is ridiculous because it’s not an indicator of any actual truth. I’ve seen people come up with absolute nonsense, the feels and conspiracy theories and act like they are “woke” or telling other to stay woke. *rolls eyes* Society is a mess.
I’ve never seen “woke” used in this instance and I use it all the time… Usually it applies to people who are deeply concerned and aware of social issues like racism, feminism and intersectionality use their platform to speak out… But I could see it used here as well. I haven’t heard him speaking any issues but I do think it’s a nice name and I love that he named his son after his wife and mother. Pretty awesome.
I like the name. I don’t think he’ll get questioned all his life about his name because most people don’t even know your middle name unless you tell them or they happen to see it on a document. Most people will simply know him as Ashe Meyers
Is the e at the end pronounced, or is ti pronounced like Ash from Pokemon?
Ash no e pronounced.
“Ashe”. Ash. Blech, kind of, but could be worse.
A work friend named her son Indiana, and supposedly that was partly in tribute to the baby’s grandmothers, like a combo of their names. A boy with a name ending in Diana/Ana – personally I didn’t like it, hate away.
Thanks for those of you who explained “woke.” It was confusing and awkward.
Her stylist is NOT woke.
I think most in the baby’s generation will note the Pokemon connection to Pikachu’s trainer, Ash. cuz that Pokemon stuff is not going anywhere.
His wife is a human rights lawyer. Interesting. I teared up a little when he got emotional.
I know language evolves but I abhor this use of the word woke. It just sounds stupid! Just as stupid as bae. It will not be making it into my lexicon.
As for movie names referenced like discussed above, I will forever be associated with the French movie Amélie even though I was born 12 years before the movie was released (that is my real name). My parents weren’t being trendy or cool, they just liked the name and my father is French. The movie would not been as popular in the US had it not been so full of clichés about Paris which appealed to the American demographic. I constantly get asked “Like the movie?” even though it has been 15 years since its release. I didn’t think the movie was even that good, mostly really weird. But it launched Audrey Tautou’s career so I guess I thankful for that.
Oh, God, let’s retire “woke” please and take “bae” with it.