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Along with carving out two successful Hollywood movie careers, Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively are the busy parents of three children. They started their family with James, a daughter born in 2014, followed by Inez, another daughter born in 2016. Blake ended up giving birth to another girl: Betty, born in 2019. Blake is currently pregnant with their fourth child, and it is unclear when they will stop having children.
Both actors have opened up about parenthood over the years, occasionally talking to the media about their children. They do not want their children to be exploited, and they have very strict rules of parenting. Blake and Ryan have also spoken about the inspiration behind their daughters’ unique names. Read on to find out how they decided on James, Inez, and Betty for their children.
Updated on January 11, 2023 by Abigail Thomas: Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are everyone’s favorite couple. Their exchanges on social media are hilarious, and it is clear they are deeply in love. Up to date, the married couple have three children, but their family will soon be expanding. Lively visually announced her pregnancy in September 2022 at the 10th Annual Forbes Power Women’s Summit in New York City. Though they have not stated when they are expecting their fourth child to arrive, but the new member to their family may be arriving in February or March. As they did with their previous children, Lively and Reynolds have chosen not to learn the sex of their unborn child.
Why Did Ryan And Blake Name Their First Daughter James?
Following their 2012 nuptials, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds welcomed their first child in December 2014: James. As James is traditionally known as a male name, fans were immediately curious about the couple’s decision to give the name to their daughter.
According to Life and Style, the couple went with the name James because it was a way to honor Ryan’s father, James. While James Reynolds did get to meet his granddaughter who was named after him, he sadly passed away in 2015.
“It felt right,” Ryan explained in a 2018 interview.
The inspiration to name their daughter after James may have stemmed from the fact that Ryan had a complex relationship with his father. Life and Style reports that the two weren’t always close, but Blake helped him to mend his relationship with his dad before he passed away from Parkinson’s Disease.
“All family relationships come with some complications,” Ryan said in his 2018 interview. “For better or worse, all roads lead to here. At the end of the day, it’s easier to focus on the good stuff than the bad. My father died soon after my daughter was born, but he got to see her, which makes me happy.”
In terms of choosing a unique baby name, Ryan revealed in a 2016 interview that the name James is quite normal: “In the spectrum of weird celebrity baby names, I feel like we’re not really breaking any new ground here. I mean, I didn’t call her Summer Squash Meadowlark, or something.”
Why Did Ryan And Blake Name Their Second Daughter Inez?
Two years after welcoming James, Blake and Ryan had another daughter: Inez. The couple didn’t officially confirm the name of their new baby, until various publications reported that her name was Inez (they incorrectly spelled it as Ines) when the baby was three months old.
This time, neither parent has explained why they went with the name. Self reports that the name means “sacred” or “chaste” and is a variation of the name Agnes, which originates from Greek.
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The publication also points out that the name can have different spellings in different languages. In French and Spanish, for example, it’s spelled as Inès or Inés, respectively.
Life and Style cites a 2018 interview where Blake confirmed the spelling of her second daughter’s name: “I had a new baby, Inez, with a ‘z’ even though everyone says it’s with an ‘s’. I don’t know why, please tell Wikipedia.”
Why Did Ryan And Blake Name Their Third Daughter Betty?
Blake and Ryan welcomed their third daughter in October 2019. However, they didn’t confirm her name until Taylor Swift—who’s best friends with the couple—revealed it in her 2020 song Betty.
In the song, Taylor references James and Inez too as an ode to her close friends in the lines “Betty, I won’t make assumptions” and “You heard the rumors from Inez” and “She said ‘James, get in, let’s drive’”.
The Gossip Girl actress shed a little light on the inspiration behind the name when talking about her line of non-alcoholic mixers, Betty Buzz. As it turns out, the name Betty is a tribute to her late father.
“My dad’s name was Ernest Brown Jr. but he was known as Ernie Lively,” Blake explained (via Us Weekly). “He gave up his last name when he married my mom, [Elaine Lively], and any success he, or I, have experienced has been in a name that isn’t his.
“So when I was working hard to build this company, I wanted any success to be in a name that was meaningful to him. Betty was his mom and his sister’s name. Also, Ernie would not be the best name for a mixer.”
Sadly, Ernie Lively passed away in June 2021 from cardiac complications.
What Will Blake Lively And Ryan Reynolds Name Baby Number 4?
Blake Lively is currently pregnant with her fourth child with husband Ryan Reynolds. She visually announced her pregnancy at the 10th Annual Forbes Power Women’s Summit in New York City. She will likely give birth sometime in February or March.
Lively and Reynolds do not want to know the gender of their upcoming child, just like they did not want to know the genders of their previous children. Reynolds is secretly hoping for another girl, as he told Today “I know girls so I’m sort of kind of hoping that, but I’m ready for whatever happens.”
Fans wondered if Lively and Reynolds would again announce the name of their child through friend Taylor Swift, especially considering she recently released her newest album Midnights. The only name from her album was “Daisy,” so time will tell if she again announced Lively and Reynolds’ baby name.
