After seeing an astounding amount of baby name drama on Reddit’s “Am I The A—hole?” subreddit, we are of the staunch belief that no one can call “dibs” on a baby name. And, frankly, it’s probably for the best if you don’t share your baby name plans before the baby arrives. (Most people will have the decency to keep any negative thoughts to themselves after the baby is here.) And so we cringed when we heard what comedian Chris Rock asked Kelly Ripa before welcoming his daughter.
On a recent episode of Live With Kelly and Mark, Ripa, her husband Mark Consuelos, and their co-hosts talked about the rules around picking a moniker, per Entertainment Tonight.
“There’s a very funny story,” Ripa said. “Chris Rock called me when he was expecting his first daughter. I had just had [my daughter] Lola — and he said, ‘Listen, [my wife] Malaak and I are thinking of naming the baby Lola and we just want to check with you to see if that’s OK.'”
And while the All My Children actress might think that’s funny, we think it’s risky AF.
“I was like, ‘First of all, I don’t own the name Lola, I didn’t trademark it,” Ripa said. And we’re sure Rock let out a sigh of relief. Becuase what was he going to do if Ripa said no? What was the backup plan? It may have seemed courteous, but we think he should have just run with it. Despite what some Redditors might have you believe, Ripa is right. The name isn’t trademarked.
Lucky for Rock and his now ex-wife, she was not only courteous but also complimentary. “And second of all, we can all agree Lola Rock is an amazing name,'” she added. “Like, ‘Do you mind if I change Lola’s last name to Rock?'”
It seems the celebrities didn’t consult each other on their other kids’ names, and we think that’s quite alright. Along with 23-year-old Lola, Ripa and Consuelos also share sons Michael, 27 and Joaquin, 21. Meanwhile, Rock and Malaak Compton share daughters Lola, 22 and Zahra, 20.
When speaking with SheKnows last fall, Ripa and Consuelos admitted that they don’t always get things right with their kids. (I mean … who does?) “Our daughter came to visit us at work yesterday and she said ‘Please don’t show me on the camera’ and within two minutes we showed her on camera,” Consuelos said.
“We didn’t mean to show her on camera, we started talking to her and the camera panned to her so it wasn’t really our fault,” Ripa pointed out. “It was our fault,” Consuelos joked, admitting defeat.
Before you go, check out some of Reddit’s wildest baby name dilemmas.
