Celebrity baby names

The addition of two bundles of joy to the Jolie-Pitt homestead elevates Angelina and Brad to the highest plateau of public favor. Even after the birth of their first biological child and their various adoptions and humanitarian works, the specter of Jennifer Aniston clouded their public personae. But who can resist a pair of twins?

Their new arrivals are christened Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon. You can bet that even the most intimate chums won’t lean over the crib and say, “Hi, Viv!,” particularly with the French spelling. Marcheline was the name of Angelina’s mother, who died in January 2007 after a long battle with ovarian cancer.

Knox Leon (Leon pronounced with a long “o”) was so named because dad Brad is a fan of artist Archibald Knox and has collected several of the late artist’s works. The day after Angelina gave birth, the Archibald Knox Web site reportedly received over 2,000 hits.

Celebrities are different from us ordinary mortals. Among those differences is their practice of giving offspring unusual names. What follows is a list of celebrity baby names, and there’s not a Dick or Jane among them.

Matthew McConaughey’s new arrival is Levi, but he’s not named for the jeans that Matthew occasionally bothers to put on. The spiritual star explains that Levi is another name for the Biblical apostle Matthew. Early tabloid reports predicted that the bouncing baby boy would be named Budweiser, after his pop’s favorite beer. After all, Matthew’s big brother Rooster named his son Miller Lyte.

Julia Roberts named her twins Hazel and Phinnaeus. Nothing wrong with Hazel other than its vintage seems to be several generations ago. But Phinnaeus??? It’s a family name, says Julia. But try explaining that to the kids at school.

Also on the previous-generations name register is Matilda, daughter of Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams. Possibly she was named for the Aussie folk song “Waltzing Matilda.” FYI, Jake Gyllenhaal was her godfather.

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