When it comes to celebrities and baby names, you just never know where they're going to go. Often it's to bizarre and unseemly places, but sometimes they surprise us with a good one as Robert Downey Jr. and wife Susan did today.
According to People, their son arrived Tuesday morning weighing 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and everyone is healthy and happy. Such great news to hear for the couple, and even better is the fact that they shared the name right away instead of making us wait and wonder. Not everyone likes it though. In fact, many are already putting him in the weird celebrity baby name club. But I think it works. See what you think ...
It's Exton. Exton Elias Downey. I think it has a nice ring to it, and I love the alliteration. It's unique for sure, and you won't find it in any baby name books, but it also doesn't break any of the 25 Rules of Baby Naming. It may come a little close to violating number seven, but I think it sounds familiar enough not to sound made up. And it's not difficult to spell.
The initials work; monogram is no problem; and it's not something you eat. It doesn't rhyme with anything too horrific. "Sexton" maybe, but he may like that one day. It also goes nicely with the name of his older brother, Indio, Downey's 18-year-old son with his ex-wife Deborah Falconer. And not that this kid is going to need it with a dad like Robert Downey Jr., but it also comes with a certain cool factor.
All in all I'd say they scored some major points in the name game. They accomplished what challenges most -- coming up with a unique name that's not awful on some other account.
I'm anxious to hear how they came up with it, and hear if it was family name, or there's some other meaning attached to it. Mostly though, I'm just excited to see Robert experience and embrace fatherhood sober and stronger than ever.
What do you think of the name Exton Elias?
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