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Jamie Oliver's Baby Name Is As Quirky As You'd Expect

The British chef welcomed his son on August 7.
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UPDATE:On Wednesday, Jamie Oliver confirmed his son's full name in an Instagram post.

"His name's River Rocket Oliver we think it suits him and he's a little gift and we are all very happy," the dad-of-five wrote.


Original post:

It’s been two weeks since Jamie Oliver and his wife Jools welcomed their fifth child, and now the couple has finally revealed their baby boy’s unique name.

On Monday, Jools posted a photo of their son’s nursery art to Instagram, which reads “Dream Big River.” She then captioned the snap with a rocket and heart emoji, causing many to believe the baby’s full name is River Rocket.


According to Mirror UK, Oliver’s sister, Anna-Marie Hunt, only further fueled rumours of the baby's full name when she left a comment on the post, saying: “It's all about the River today!” The proud new aunt also added a wink, rocket and monkey emoji.

The British chef’s quirky baby name choice comes as no surprise, as Oliver and his wife have always loved unique nature names. In fact, their four older kids are Poppy Honey Rosie, 14, Daisy Boo Pamela, 13, Petal Blossom Rainbow, 7, and Buddy Bear Maurice, 5.


On social media, Oliver’s fans praised the name the couple chose for their newest addition. “Aww lovely and so apt as rivers flow out to the sea,” one wrote.

Another said: “Loving the name goes with all your other beautiful names and children you must be very proud.”

River is actually a very trendy moniker not only because it’s a nature name, but because it’s unisex, too. In fact, recent research by Nameberry revealed that River is actually one of the top gender-neutral names of 2016, coming in at number six.

Other celebrities have also chosen this name for their kids. Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green, for instance, recently welcomed their third son and named him Journey River. And back in 2014, Kelly Clarkson gave birth to a daughter and named her River Rose.

Of course, arguably the most famous River is the late actor River Phoenix.

While fans all agreed that River is a beautiful name choice, some didn’t understand where Rocket came from.

While Oliver and his wife have not confirmed that their son’s middle name is Rocket, we can understand why they might have chosen it. After all, the name choice has proven to be fashionable in Hollywood. Just last year, “Avatar” star Sam Worthington named his son Rocket Zot.

Additionally, word names are becoming increasingly popular among celebrities. Jena Malone’s son is Ode Mountain, Jeff Goldblum’s son is Charlie Ocean and Zooey Deschanel's daughter is Elsie Otter, for instance.

So maybe River Rocket isn’t so odd after all.

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Celebs Who Chose Wacky Nature Names For Their Kids
Cricket Pearl & Birdie Leigh(01 of20)
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Born: July 2013 (Cricket) & August 2008 (Birdie)We’re still scratching our heads over Busy Philipps’ baby name choice. Birdie, though uncommon, is actually a pretty cute name for a girl, but we can’t quite figure out why she chose Cricket for her other daughter.The 35-year-old mom explained to Today.com: “Since I grew up with a nickname — Busy being short for Elizabeth — when my husband and I started to have our babies, we decided that if wanted to call our kids something, we would just name them that thing that we wanted to call them.” (credit:Getty)
Sage Moonblood(02 of20)
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Born: May 5, 1976Sylvester Stallone’s eldest son was named Sage Moonblood. Unfortunately, in 2012, Sage passed away after suffering a heart attack. Stallone has four other children: Seargeoh, Sistine, Sophia, and Scarlet. (credit:Getty)
Apple(03 of20)
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Born: May 14, 2004Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin chose the name Apple for their daughter, who is now 10 years old. While it may seem the name was inspired by nature, Paltrow admitted the couple was actually inspired by the Bible. “Apples are so sweet, and they're wholesome, and it's biblical — and I just thought it sounded so lovely and … clean!” she said.Paltrow and Martin also chose a biblical name for their son, Moses. (credit:Getty)
Bluebell Madonna(04 of20)
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Born: 2006Geri Halliwell chose an interesting combination for her daughter’s name, mixing the name of a flower with the name of a legendary pop star. (credit:Getty)
Ocean(05 of20)
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Born: 1991Forest Whitaker’s eldest child is named Ocean. Interestingly, that’s not the only usual baby name the 53-year-old actor has chosen for his kids. Whitaker is also a father to three other children: Autumn, Sonnet, and True. (credit:Getty)
Rainbow Aurora(06 of20)
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Born: March 5, 2013Holly Madison certainly chose a unique and colourful name for her daughter. On her blog, she wrote: “I have always loved the name Rainbow. There was a girl in my school a few years younger than me named Rainbow and I was so envious of her name because it was so pretty and unusual.” (credit:Getty)
Phaedra Bloom Forever(07 of20)
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Born: April 24 2013The late Peaches Geldof, a UK television host, named her youngest baby boy Phaedra Bloom Forever. The name Phaedra means “bright” in Greek.Sadly, Geldof passed away from a drug overdose earlier this year. She is survived by her husband Thomas Cohen, two sons Astala and Phaedra, as well as her father and three sisters. (credit:Getty)
Buddy Bear Maurice, Petal Blossom Rainbow, Daisy Boo Pamela, & Poppy Honey Rosie(08 of20)
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Born: September 15, 2010 (Buddy Bear), April 3, 2009 (Petal), April 10, 2003 (Daisy), and March 18, 2002 (Poppy)All we can say is that Jamie Oliver wins for most unique nature baby names for all his kids! (credit:Getty)
Maple(09 of20)
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Born: 2012Although we think Maple is a cool Canadian-inspired name, we were surprised to learn that Arrested Development star Jason Bateman named his youngest daughter this. Bateman also has another daughter named Francesca. (credit:Getty)
Bear Blaze(10 of20)
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Born: December 10, 2013Of course Kate Winslet’s son’s name made this list, although we think it’s growing on us. Winslet explained her baby name choice, saying, “A friend of mine when I was younger was nicknamed Bear and I just had always really loved it… Bear's second name is Blaze because my husband and I met in a house fire basically. The house burned down and we survived, but we wanted something of the fire and so Blaze was the name that we came up with. Bear Blaze.”Bear Blaze is Winslet’s third child, but first with husband Ned Rocknroll. The 38-year-old actress is also a mother to two more kids: 13-year-old Mia Threapleton and 10-year-old Joe Mendes, who she had with her ex-husbands Jim Threapleton and Sam Mendes. (credit:Getty)
Harlow Winter & Sparrow James Midnight(11 of20)
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Born: 2008 (Harlow) & 2009 (Sparrow)Harlow and Sparrow might be odd names if you think about it, but we actually think they’re cool offbeat monikers for Nicole Richie and Joel Madden’s kids. Madden explained to People: “I really like Jean Harlow the actress, and [Nicole] likes Shalom Harlow the model. Harlow's cool because it feels like a classic name. Winter [is] so serene and quiet and that's how [our daughter] is.” (credit:Getty)
Blue Ivy(12 of20)
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Born: January 7, 2012While Blue Ivy is certainly a nature name, Beyonce and Jay Z were inspired by something else for the name. While the couple never confirmed why they chose the first name Blue, they admitted they chose Ivy because it resembles the roman numeral four (IV), which is the couple’s favourite number. (credit:Getty)
Rowan(13 of20)
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Born: May 15, 2003The name Rowan is an interesting one that can be associated with the rowan tree. Brooke Shields chose this moniker for her first daughter. Shields and her husband Chris Henchy are also parents to another girl named Grier. (credit:Getty)
Tyme(14 of20)
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Born: 2002"Grey’s Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington has a son named Tyme, which is both unique in choice and spelling. Washington and his wife Jenisa Garland also have two other kids named Isaiah and Iman. (credit:Getty)
Rocky(15 of20)
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Born: September 2012Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. named their baby boy Rocky. The couple are also parents to a daughter named Charlotte Grace. (credit:Getty)
Bear Blu(16 of20)
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Born: May 2011Before Kate Winslet named her son Bear, Alicia Silverstone picked the same name! Silverstone’s husband Chris Jarecki was actually the one who came up with it. The actress told Us Weekly, “We had narrowed our list to five boy names, and then we couldn't really decide. He suggested Bear or Blu, and I loved them both.”Unfortunately, Bear Blu topped the list of 2011’s worst celebrity baby names. (credit:Getty)
River Rose(17 of20)
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Born: June 12, 2014While River Rose isn’t exactly the wackiest name we’ve ever heard, the name River on its own is still kind of odd. Kelly Clarkson chose this moniker for her first child with husband Brandon Blackstock. On "The Ellen Degenerous Show," the "American Idol" alumni admitted that their chosen baby name would be used for either a girl or a boy and joked that it wouldn’t be anything weird like “Blue Jazz.” (credit:Getty)
North West(18 of20)
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Born: June 15, 2013While it’s debatable whether or not North West really is a nature name or not, we figured we better include is on the list, just in case. After all, it is one of the strangest celebrity baby names we’ve ever heard. Apparently Kim Kardashian and Kanye West named their baby girl North because Pharrell Williams and Anna Wintour said they should. (credit:Getty)
Poppy(19 of20)
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Born: September 2012Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer welcomed fraternal twins Poppy and Charlie in September 2012. While the name Poppy isn’t the craziest nature name we’ve heard, some people argue that it is odd on its own. Personally, we think the name is darling, though some feel it’s too old fashioned. (credit:Getty)
Coco(20 of20)
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Born: June 13, 2004Of course we had to include Courteney Cox and David Arquette’s daughter’s name Coco. The name is associated with cocoa, naturally, which emits an earthy feel. Arquette explained on Lopez Tonight the meaning behind their chosen moniker. “It's sort of an abbreviation of ‘COurtney Cox’ ... ‘CoCo,’” 42-year-old said.Coco is Cox’s only child, while Arquette also has a son named Charlie, born earlier this year, with his fiancé Christina McLarty. (credit:Getty)

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