A hearty Happy Father’s Day to the celebs who welcomed new babies during the first half of 2015 — in particular the dads who put a lot of thought and care into their baby name choices. Here are the 12 names and namers we’d like to highlight.
Somehow this seems like the perfect choice for Irish comic actor O’Dowd — cool, wry, offbeat and quirky. It’s been rarely used on its own, but has worked as a nickname for Garfunkel, Carney, Pepper and Tatum. In addition to its creative word meaning, it relates to a couple of legendary High Kings of Ireland.
After joking with a talk show host that he was naming his and Blake Lively’s baby Excalibur Anaconda, or Butternut Summersquash, Ryan Reynolds finally announced a pick almost as surprising: a girl named James. But they are not the first to have gender-bent this boy classic — Brendan Fehr did it first, and several celebs have used it as their daughters’ middle.
Yes, there will be a lot of real McCoy jokes about this recent choice by “Hart of Dixie” star Scott Porter inspired in part by Texas quarterback Colt McCoy. Lots of parents are reevaluating the whole genre of Mc/Mac names for boys, from McKinley to MacGregor.
Sam Worthington and Lara Bingle went even more dynamic with their choice of word name Rocket. It was first used by director Robert Rodriguez for his son in 1995, then by rapper Pharrell in 2008 and last year by another musical pair — for their daughter. It seems that the sci-fi-ish Zot was the nickname of Bingle’s late father.
Interior designer and TV personality Berkus and husband Nate Berkus chose the up-and-coming vivid floral name Poppy for his daughter. Picked by a number of other celebs including Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, Anthony Edwards, Jamie Oliver and Jessica Capshaw, Poppy is a blooming Number 12 in England, 64 on Nameberry — and just ready to burst onto the US Top 1,000.
Silas Randall — Justin Timberlake
Silas, the handsome choice of Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel, was the middle name of daddy’s maternal grandfather, while Randall is Justin’s own middle name. New Testament Silas is getting to be a red hot oldie, shedding a onetime hayseed image to rise to Number 137 on the charts.
Montgomery Moses Brian — Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Baron Cohen and wife Isla Fischer have come up with unexpected and diverse choices for their kids. First came the trend-setting Olive in 2007, followed three years later by Elula, a Hebrew name, and now the mighty Anglo-Scottish surname name Montgomery for their latest.
The world was moved by the touching story of Vin Diesel naming his baby daughter Pauline in tribute to his close friend and “Fast and Furious” co-star Paul Walker, who died tragically in a car crash. Pauline has been off the baby name radar since the 90s, it was a Top 50 name for the first three decades if the 20th century and might be due for a comeback.
There’s a sweet sentiment behind Perez Hilton’s choice Mia Alma, via its meaning, “my soul.” Mia is now the sixth most popular girl’s name in the country, with will over 13,000 baby girls given that name in 2014.
Charlotte Elizabeth Diana — Prince William
Talk about name pressure! The popular Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had thousands betting on what their choice would be within the constraints on them. They pulled it off with three classics, honoring the baby’s great-grandma and beloved late grandmother.
The iconic name for the famed Vatican chapel, home of Michelangelo frescoes, provided inspiration for Sylvester Stallone and now to action star Kevin James for their daughters; Kevin James has another daughter evocative of Italy: Sienna-Marie.
Violet Moon & Knox Blue — Steve Howey
Steve Howey, the actor who plays Like Us On Facebook | 
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