Baby Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt partially named after French architect


A columnist for Britian’s The Guardian discusses Internet commentary on Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt’s odd name.

Shiloh is a hebrew name of course, but it could mean several different things:

There is the Hebrew word, which means either “the peaceful one” or “the Messiah”. Then there’s the American civil war battle, named after the church in Tennessee around which Union troops made their fatefully under-fortified encampment. Battle and church are both feminine in French, but I’m not sure that matters. It is possible that Pitt and Jolie have, according to a system fashionable in celebrity circles, named the baby after the location of its conception, but this is not immediately enlightening: there are better than 50 Shilohs in the US.

“Nouvel,” which means “New” in French, should be spelled “Nouvelle,” its French feminine form, since it’s part of a girl’s name. Brad and Angelina may have made the grammatical error deliberately, though:

On the same web forum, it was suggested that Nouvel may be Brad Pitt’s tribute to French architect Jean Nouvel, which solves, or at least skirts, the grammatical issue.

This makes sense, since Brad loves architecture and has admitted it’s one of his passions.

Brad is also narrating a show for PBS on environmentally friendly architecture called “Design: E2.” It will air in June.

A commentor on “A Socialite’s Life” noted that Pitt also gave Zahara her middle name, Marley:

Brad’s favorite, or most admired by him architect is Jean Nouvel, and so far most people are saying this is why Shiloh’s middle name is what it is. Also learned that Brad gave Zahara her middle name of “Marley” because his favorite musician was/is Bob Marley. I guess this will be Jolie-Pitt’s tradition where their children are concerned….their dad will give them their middle name.

Angelina should have let Brad name the baby, since Nouvel is a much prettier name – and much easier to pronounce – than Shiloh.

In related news, Angelina and Brad are showing their gratitude to Namibia by donating $300,000 to benefit the country’s state-run maternity wards. Their newborn has been offered Namibian citizenship from the grateful government.

Here are some pictures courtesy of JustJared that were probably taken at the World Economic Forum with a cameraphone. Until they come back to the states, scrounging for old low-res pictures is probably as good as it gets.

Update: pictures are from the Mr. and Mrs. Smith set during a break from filming.

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1 Response to “Baby Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt partially named after French architect”

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  1. millie says:
    May 30, 2006 at 5:47 pm

    Angie looks so pretty and young here, like she’s letting Brad take the lead in private. Far from her glamazon image.