After much speculation, it appears that the rumors are true: People is confirming that Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied have named their son Aleph.
I should note that this is not an official birth announcement, but People is pretty reliably reliable.
There are plenty of number names for babies – from Seinfeld’s joke about Seven to Sixx Design’s Five, as well as more conventional picks like Una and Octavia, but this one is new, at least in the English-speaking world.
What do you think? Is he a fresh, more meaningful, and attractively international version of Alex? Or is Aleph destined for the “Weird Names Celebs Give Their Babies” lists?
I’m late to find this but would love to see Aleph featured as name of the day. There’s a very interesting history and more to it than simply the first letter of the alphabet. I’m thinking Paulo Coehlo’s The Aleph, which is an amazing read. The idea of Aleph being the ‘one that contains all others’ feels very powerful to me. I love Aleph!
Aleph isn’t my cup of tea, but there are plenty of good, “normal” English names that are also letters. Bea or Bee (short for Beatrice or Bonnie), Dee (or DeeDee as a nn), Kaye, Jay, Elle, Emme… Etc. Also plenty of people go by initial nns, like J. R., L. C. (Lauren Conrad). I personally have a friend who goes by Kacey, derived from Kathleen Carol.
In short, names-that-are-letters are common. It’s a weak point to call her on that.
Another one in the “expecting more” group. It does stand out as a good choice compared to some celebrities (Pilot Inspektor, etc), but I was expecting Portman’s choice to fall more into the stylish and a bit out there category (Gideon, Abel, Seraphina, Vida, Cosima). There are some very nice names that aren’t in vogue right now. Aleph doesn’t seem like a name to me. Aleph looks like a name, but I’m sure most people get that it really isn’t. So, it isn’t as bad as some but she could definitely have done better.
I agree with the sentiment “I was expecting more from her.” Natalie has always come across as kind of pretentious to me, so I figured she would choose something more substantial. But then again, she IS a Hollywood celebrity.