Gwen, Gavin and Kingston out on 05/10/08. Credit: Fame
Last night when the news broke that Gwen Stefani had her baby and named it Zuma but the gender wasn’t known yet the first thing I did was look up the name. Since it was listed as a girl’s name, and sounded pretty feminine to me, I made up an “it’s a girl” graphic, declared it a girl and hoped to call it a night. Then People came out with the news that the Stefani-Rossdale’s had decided to name their little boy Zuma and it became the latest addition to the ever-growing list of bad celebrity baby names. It’s certainly not the worst name, and I guess you can consider it inventive and cute, it’s just not something I would pick for a boy.

Nesta is a pretty cool name, though, and it turns out it was originally Bob Marley’s name. According to statements Rossdale gave in an interview, Zuma beach is where had an epiphany and decided to turn his life around and become successful, rich and famous. Since it worked, he’s made the decision to pass that revered name on to his second son. His first son was named after the capital of Jamaica, Kingston:

By naming their newborn son Zuma Nesta Rock, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale “have proven decisively that they’re masters in choosing names that are both highly unusual and carry a lot of personal meaning,” baby name expert Pamela Redmond Satran, co-author of The Baby Name Bible, tells Usmagazine.com.

“They’ve continued their own place-naming tradition by naming their son after Zuma Beach in Malibu,” Satran explains, citing a profile of Rossdale which said he had an epiphany that began his career.

“He was standing on Zuma Beach in the early morning after working all night as a production assistant on a music video and was quoted as saying he realized he was wasting his time,” Satran says. “He drove up the coast, slept in his car, and started making the moves that would launch his career.”

Zuma is also the name of a 1975 album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

Nesta, meanwhile, was Bob Marley’s first name before an immigration official switched it with his middle name, Robert.

“This name obviously links to big brother Kingston’s and is another nod to Jamaica and reggae,” says Satran.

Bob Marley’s son Ziggy used Nesta as a middle name for his son, as did his other son Rohan, who has a son named John Nesta Marley with singer Lauryn Hill.

The name Rock “needs no explanation,” given that the baby’s parents are rock stars, Satran says, and the fact that we’re “long overdue for a Rock Hudson-inspired revival.”

[From US Weekly]

Maybe Zuma Nesta will take a page from his namesake’s book and decide to switch his middle and first names later in life. He also has another name to pick from that’s pretty decent. It really doesn’t matter though. This kid will be so famous that he won’t have to worry about substitute teachers thinking he’s a girl as they do the roll call. There will also be plenty of other little boys named Zuma now that Stefani has set a trend. She’s been known to wear fashion that a lot of people wouldn’t be caught letting the cat out in though, and maybe her influence only goes so far before taste overrides celebrity trend setting.