Nameberry.com editors Pamela Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz — who penned the books Baby Name Bible and Beyond Ava & Aiden — are blogging for UsMagazine.com about why celebs choose the names they do, and what they mean.
Academy-Award nominee Vera Famiga has named her second child and first daughter Gytta Lubov, names that draw upon her strong Ukrainian heritage. Though she was born in New Jersey, she spoke only her parents' native language until the age of six.
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Gytta appears to be a spelling variation of the common central-eastern European name Gitta, which is also a nickname for such multi-cultural choices as Margate, Bridget, Brigitte and Birgit. It's also possible that Famiga and her husband Ren Hawkey substituted the 'y' to match the second letter of their son's name, Fynn.
Gytta's middle name, Lubov, has a much clearer origin. She is named for her Ukrainian grandmother, Lyubov, also known as Lyuba, a name which means "love" or "beloved." Interestingly, in this case the couple dropped the letter 'y.'
This celebrity is far from the first to pick a name reflecting their ethnicity or that of their partner. Ukrainian-born Milla Jovovich (born Milica) combined the backgrounds of her and husband Paul Anderson for their son Ever Gabo. Ever is a Scottish male name honoring Anderson's cultural heritage, while Gabo is a combination of Jovovich's parents' first names, Galina and Bogdan.
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Others in this category include Kelli Williams' three children, whose father is Indian-American Ajay Saghal, and who have Indian-inflected names Kiran Ram, Ravi and Sareme; German-born Heidi Klum's oldest child Helene, is called by her German nickname Leni; Matt Lauer and his Dutch wife Annette Roque's son is named Thijs (pronounced Tice), a diminutive of the Dutch form of Matthew.
Catherine Zeta-Jones gave her daughter the traditional Welsh name Carys, Will Ferrell's three sons — Magnus, Mattias and Axel — all have names reflecting his wife's Swedish background, and numerous other stars have chosen names from their Italian, Spanish and Irish family milieus.
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