Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed have announced the birth of their first child – a daughter, named Bodhi Soleil, and they didn’t know the sex until birth, and I know a lot about a couple who say they’re having a 'month of silence' after the baby is born.
But anyway. Bodhi Soleil has made more headlines than you’d wager given the aggregate fame levels of her parents, and I think there are people who are thirsting for a return to the ‘celebrities, aren’t their names crazy?’ story, but this isn’t it. Bodhi has been on a huge upward trajectory, and while it’s slightly more common for boys – Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox have a Bodhi, Amy Brenneman has a Bodhi – it’s not out of nowhere.
Similarly, you can’t think of Soleil without thinking of Soleil Moon Frye, right? Please do not tell me you do not know who that is. Do not disrespect Punky Brewster in my presence. But – I’ll admit that back then, having an overtly French name (it means sun – we all know this, right?) was a bit more unusual – these days you have to work a lot harder to have a name that qualifies as legitimately unusual, celebrity or not.
What I do think is that they probably planned to use this name regardless of the sex of the baby because it was just so perfect for them and their all-consuming love for their unborn child, whomever it might turn out to be, or, as my Twitter friend Gemma pointed out, she’s probably had that name picked out since she was 12.
So, when all’s said and done, this is a name that probably fits baby Bodhi and her parents quite well – but has already gotten arguably more than its fair share of attention, for better or for worse. I don’t want to say the Crazy Celebrity Name is over but a friendly, wearable, non-Anglo name doesn’t even come close to qualifying.
