Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images and Kevin Winter/Getty Images
- Hugh Grant picked unusual names — “Danger” and “Blue” — for his two younger daughters.
- When naming his youngest daughter, his son suggested “Kevin,” a Minion from “Despicable Me.”
- Grant is not alone in picking unique names. They’re getting more popular among parents.
Hugh Grant can play a wide range of roles with ease, but naming his kids was no easy task.
On Tuesday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Grant recalled the process of choosing middle names for his children.
Grant, a father of five, said he was “in a bit of a panic” with his wife, Anna Eberstein, on the day they had to name their daughter.
“We thought it might be nice for her when she was older if she could say in bars that her middle name was Danger,” said Grant, 64. They eventually named their daughter Lulu Danger Grant.
When his fifth child came along in 2018, the “Heretic” actor said he “panicked about names with my wife” again. So, they asked their elder son what they should name her.
“And he said, ‘Kevin,’ because that was his favorite Minion,” Grant recalled, referring to the character on “Despicable Me.”
While they considered the name, they settled on Blue instead.
“We did think about calling her Kevin, but then we said, ‘You better think of something else.’ So he said ‘Blue’ because it was his favorite color,” he said.
Grant, who married Eberstein in 2018, shares both daughters and a son with her. He has two children with his ex, Tinglan Hong.
Earlier in the show, he reflected on his middle names, “John Mungo.” “I don’t know how it happened. I had very unkind parents,” he said.
Still, he named his oldest son “John Mungo.”
A representative for Grant didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
Picking a unique name for your baby
Baby naming is no simple task — and parents’ sweating over it has led to the rise of baby naming services, with some consultants charging up to $10,000.
With the rise of social media, more parents are seeking uncommon names, baby name consultants previously told BI.
There is a “cultural trend towards embracing individuality,” Colleen Slagen, a baby name consultant, said.
“People really want to get it right,” Slagen said. “They want to choose a name that represents them but also sets their kid up for a lifetime of success.”
Kayla Naab, another baby name consultant, previously wrote for BI that finding a unique name for a baby can be challenging. She uses three sets of considerations to help parents come to a decision: usability, integration, and connotation.
“Choosing a unique name for your baby can be a great way to help them stand out, anoint them with something special and meaningful, and disrupt the status quo,” she wrote.
“However, it’s really important to consider the lives your child might live and anticipate how your chosen name will impact their experience.”