Celebs Who Changed Their Children's Names

Celebrities are known for giving their children incredibly unique names. When Beyoncé and Jay-Z announced they decided to call their eldest daughter Blue Ivy Carter, the internet went wild. Actor Jason Lee and his then-partner Beth Riesgraf received similar reactions when they gave their son the unforgettable name Pilot Inspektor Lee — and believe it or not, there's a relatively straightforward backstory. The former professional skateboarder told Entertainment Weekly that Riesgraf was inspired by a song from the rock band Granddaddy. "The opening track, 'He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's the Pilot,' absolutely blew my mind when I first heard it. It was from this track that my wife, Beth, came up with the name Pilot for our son," Lee said.

Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Jason Lee, and Beth Riesgraf are but four of the many public figures who have stood firm in their decision to give their offspring unexpected names. Other famous couples, on the other hand, have had second thoughts after picking out a moniker they thought would suit their little one. Rather than try to let their baby's name grow on them, there are even some stars who gone so far as to switch up their kid's name completely. A leopard may not be able to change its spots, but a celebrity sure can change their baby's name. 

Elon Musk and Grimes have a gift for conjuring up some pretty... interesting names, to say the least. Remember when they broke the internet by announcing that their first child will go by X Æ A-12 Musk? Well, it turns out the name was so unconventional that it couldn't legally be added to the child's birth certificate. Family law attorney David Glass weighed in on the situation for People. "In California, you can only use the '26 characters' of the English language in your baby name," Glass told the magazine. "Thus, you can't have numbers, Roman numerals, accents, umlauts, or other symbols or emojis." Grimes and Elon had no choice but to change their son's name, but if you think they opted for a more traditional moniker, think again. Grimes took to Instagram to share that her son would now be named X Æ A-Xii. "Roman numerals. Looks better tbh," she replied to one commenter, per The Guardian. 

In March 2022, the couple announced they privately had their second child together in December of 2021 via surrogate. As you may have guessed, this second baby's name is also one of a kind. Grimes told Vanity Fair she and Elon named their daughter Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, or "Y" for short. After her second kid's name was revealed, Grimes shared on Twitter, "This will most definitely change btw haha but it won't be for public."

Actor Amy Schumer and husband Chris Fischer had a hilarious realization after naming their son Gene Attell Fischer. In an interview on "The Howard Stern Show," Schumer explained that they initially gave her son Gene the middle name as a nod to their good friend Dave Attell... only to notice it sounded like the word "genital." "All the blood rushed to my head and I was like, 'Chris!' And everyone's like saying, 'I don't think it's a big deal, I don't think it's a big deal.' I'm like, 'What are you [talking about]?'" she recounted. The comic also pointed out that if you say the full name out loud, it does not not sound like "genital fissure."

This mortifying discovery was enough to motivate Schumer and Chris to change their son's name. "Our baby's name is officially changed," Schumer said on her podcast, "Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls, 1 Keith." "It's now Gene David Fischer. It was Gene Attell Fischer, but we realized that we by accident named our son 'genital.'" Thankfully, little Gene David Fischer won't have to endure the teasing that would have surely come with the previously assigned moniker.

On a 2021 episode of "Late Night with Seth Meyers," Schumer joked that she no longer felt okay with judging other stars' kids' names. "You can't be like, 'Nice name, idiot,' 'cause it's like, "Well, what did you name your kid, Amy?'" she said.

When Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra of "Teen Mom" welcomed their youngest daughter, Vaeda Luma Baltierra, in 2019, the name Vaeda was not part of their original plan. As Tyler shared on Us Weekly's "Watch With Us" podcast, "We wanted to keep Lee in there 'cause [of our daughter] Novalee, so we just played around with it and then Tezlee [came up]." However, Tezlee did not stick.

Chatting with Us Weekly, Lowell explained that they ended up not liking the name Tezlee as much as they thought they would. And so, they rerouted. "Tyler told me about the name Vaeda and I fell in love with it!" she said, noting that it was a nod to Anna Chlumsky's character from the classic tearjerker "My Girl."

The family seemed to adjust well to their newest addition. Soon after Vaeda's arrival, Tyler shared a sweet family photo to Instagram with a heartfelt caption: "I'm just so blessed that Vaeda's destiny was to be right here in her mother's arms, next to her big sister, who's wrapped in her daddy's arms...it's a feeling that's unexplainable!" 

The ups and downs of "The Real Housewives of New York" cast members' relationships come to light on the show, and former stars Aviva Drescher and Reid Drescher are no exception. As 303 Magazine recounted in a Season 5 recap, fans watched Aviva and Reid go back and forth because they could not agree on what to name their son. This resulted in an argument that eventually led to name change. The child was originally called Brandon, but the couple later went with Hudson Drescher. As Aviva recounted in her book "Leggy Blonde" (via Reddit), "Hudson (formerly known as Brandon — nutcase me, I changed his name when he was four months old)."

Although Aviva left "RHONY" after Season 6, she would not rule out returning to the fray at some point down the line. "If they needed somebody and I worked in the mix, I would go back," she told Page Six in 2018. "I really think the 'Housewives' are some of the strongest women around because they are portraying their real life and they're getting hammered for it and to have that thick skin. I think its really admirable." Perhaps Aviva and Reid would further explain their decision to change their son's name if they ever come back to the Bravo program.