The Meaning Behind Nicole Richie’s Baby Name

So, in case you didn’t already know, Nicole Richie and Joel Madden had their baby early this morning, it’s a boy, and his name is Sparrow James Midnight Madden. Now, what’s behind the name? A baby naming “expert” gives us her studied opinion.

Pamela Redmond Satran runs a baby naming website and is the co-author of The Baby Name Bible. Here’s what she said about Joel and Nicole’s newly-named baby boy:

“Bird names are definitely getting hotter… Of all the animal names, bird names are the hottest.”

According to Satran, bird names have a “spiritual symbolism: they’re seen as light, one with the sky and nature and in a more uplifting, positive way than other animals, like a fox, which is more macho.”

Fox is macho? That’s news to me. Anyway, she goes on to talk about how Sparrow is usually a girl’s name, and that how it’s a trend that parents are choosing more gender neutral names. “James,” she says, is obviously a boring, conventional name in case the kid doesn’t want to be a hippie.

Here’s what she says about Sparrows second middle name “Midnight”:

“Some of the earliest African names in the US were Afternoon, Easter, Christmas and Friday,” she says. “You have to think there’s some pattern [with Harlow and Midnight].”

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