What’s in a name? Celebrities have a tendency to shock and surprise when they announce the monikers of their children — that was the case with Jason Lee’s son Pilot Inspektor.
The Alvin and the Chipmunks actor, who shares Pilot with ex Beth Jean Riesgraf, shared the meaning behind his firstborn child’s unique name in 2005, pointing to the indie rock band Grandaddy’s 2000 album The Sophtware Slump as inspiration.
“The opening track, ‘He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s the Pilot,’ absolutely blew my mind when I first heard it,” he told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “It was from this track that my wife, Beth, came up with the name Pilot for our son.”
Kate Winslet and husband Edward Abel Smith (formerly known as Ned Rocknroll) shook things up with their son Bear Blaze’s moniker — after the Titanic actress named her two older children — from previous relationships — Mia and Joe.
“We settled on Bear quite early on. A friend of mine when I was younger was nicknamed Bear, and I just had always really loved it,” Kate said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in March 2014, after welcoming her baby boy three months prior. “And he was very much a bear — he was everyone’s shoulder to cry on, he was a big bear hug, he was just this great figure in my life — and I just always remembered him and that’s where it came from.”
The Mare of Easttown star explained that Bear’s middle name had a more unconventional meaning.
“Bear’s second name is Blaze because my husband and I met in a house fire basically … and the house burned down and we survived,” she said. “But we wanted something of the fire.”
While some stars think way outside the box with their kids’ names, others choose family monikers or try and honor their loved ones with the next generation. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle did just that with their daughter Lili’s name as a nod to Queen Elizabeth II.
Scroll down to learn the meaning behind some of Hollywood’s most unique baby names!
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