The Real Meaning Of All The OutDaughtered Kids' Names
It's hard enough coming up with just the right baby name when you have to do it once, but how on earth do you pick five baby names all at once? While Adam and Danielle Busby of OutDaughtered could have given the quints all matchy-matchy names starting with the same letter, or even used a cutesy cop-out like calling them Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro, and Cinco, instead they actually put some thought into giving each of their six daughters — the quints and their older sister — names that each have their own special meaning. Let's take a look at how they arrived at one of those many difficult decisions that all parents, not just those of quints, have to face.
The Busby's oldest daughter, Blayke
Big sis Blayke Busby may have been the easiest — or perhaps the hardest — to name, seeing as how she was the one and only child at the time of her birth. Her parents chose her name because, according to Danielle, "...we both kind of always liked that unisex-type name" (via Cheat Sheet). She shares a middle name, Louise, with her maternal great-grandma.
According to Behind the Name, Blayke (or its more standardized spelling, Blake) originated as a last name and comes from Old English words meaning either "black" or "pale". While that doesn't accurately describe Blayke's light-brown locks, still, it's a cute name for an adorable young lady. The name Louise is a derivative of the French Louis, which was the name of 18 kings of France, but itself derives from an earlier German name meaning "famous battle" — hopefully this will not foreshadow any epic sibling rivalries in years to come.
The Busby twins, Ava and Olivia
As every OutDaughtered fan knows, two of the quints are actually identical twins, and it is these two that the Busbys decided to christen with somewhat matching names. Danielle relates (via Cheat Sheet) that when she and Adam were going through a list of possible names, one of their top picks was Olivia, paired with the middle name Marie, Danielle decided that she wanted to give this name to one of the twins, and to pair it with another vowel name. The winning twin name they came up with was Ava Lane, and thus the vowel twins came to be.
Olivia has the not-so-surprising meaning of olive, as in the tree, and, as such, has connotations of peace — as in "offering an olive branch" — perhaps she'll be the one to smooth over any feathers ruffled by those "famous battles" we're hoping the siblings won't engage in any time soon. Marie is the French version of Mary, who was, as you may recall, Jesus' mom. Ava is also a somewhat biblical name — though most often associated with Hollywood glamour girl Ava Gardner, it is actually derived from the name Eve. Lane is usually considered more of a masculine name, although it makes for a cute unisex one as well, and it means exactly what you'd think it does: pathway or lane. Yes, lane as in "shady lane," although there's nothing shady about this little sweetie as far as we can see.
The three non-identical Busby quints
And then there were three: Hazel Grace, Riley Paige, and the baby of the bunch (youngest but tallest, according to TLC), Parker Kate. Both Hazel and Grace were family names coming from Daddy Adam's side, according to Cheat Sheet. Riley, "the rowdy one," has a name that was in the running as far back as Blayke's birth, and a middle name that is shared with one of her cousins. Last-born Parker Kate has a name that was also the last one picked. Originally Danielle wanted her girl's first name to be Parker-Kate, but Adam, possibly unable to think up one more middle name, successfully lobbied to have Parker as a stand-alone first name.
Hazel is the name of a tree, and also a color — think hazel eyes (although this little girl's are blue). Grace is one of the "virtue" names like Faith or Hope, although it could also allude to physical grace — at this point, Hazel Grace will have to grow a little more before we can see how well it fits. Riley is an Irish surname that means either "rye clearing" or "unknown", and Paige means page as in pageboy, not book. Parker means "keeper of the park" (an updated meaning might be parking attendant), while Kate comes from Katherine, a saint's name that has the meaning of "pure."
Whew, that's a lot of naming! Twelve in all, if you're keeping count. And yet, each different name seems perfectly suited to its own very individual little bearer.