It can be hard to name your baby, especially when you’re dealing with the opinions of your friends and family. During a recent segment of the Today show, Jenna Bush Hager revealed her dad’s hilarious reaction to her daughter Mila’s name.
Hager Shares Her Dad’s Reaction To Eldest Child’s Name
While appearing on the third house of Today, Hager and co-host Hoda Kotb discussed how they chose the names for their kids—they have five children between them. While talking about naming babies, Hager shared a story about her dad, former President George W. Bush, and his reaction to one of her daughters’ names.
“I named my child Mila,” Hager started, talking about her eldest child. “It’s Margaret Laura, named after both of our moms. Henry’s mom is Margaret, my mom is Laura. I was named after my grandma.”
She continued, “And so we thought we were going to do it, but then she didn’t look like a Margaret. We sort of thought…we were like, ‘Mila.’ It’s kind of a combination of Margaret and Laura.”
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Hager then shared her dad’s reaction to the nickname. “First of all, it took me forever to name her,” she laughed. “I would keep getting texts from my dad like ‘What’s the baby’s name? What’s the baby’s name?’ And I’m like, ‘Dad, we haven’t decided. I just had a C-section. Give me a minute.’ He kept harassing me.”
“Finally, we said, ‘It’s Margaret Laura, and we’re calling her Mila, the two names combined.’ And he wrote back, ‘That should be Mala. If you’re really combining the names, that should be Mala.”
Hager’s Mom Was Also Concerned
Her dad wasn’t the only one who had concerns about baby Mila’s name. “My mom said that people in Texas kept calling her ‘Mylah,’ and she said, ‘You’ve got to change your spelling to M-E-L-A.’ And I’m like, ‘Mom, the baby is named this. It’s too late, and I like it.’”
It doesn’t seem like Hager had this same trouble with her next two children, Poppy and Hal. Hal is named after Hager’s husband Henry. In an Instagram post announcing the birth of their third child, Hager wrote, “His name is Henry Harold, named after Harold, my grandpa, and Henry, of course. We weren’t exactly sure about the name, but then his big sisters arrived and they called him ‘Hal pal,’ and we thought, ‘This is just perfect.’”
Hager’s parents might not have been excited about Mila’s name at first, but viewers of the Today show loved the relatable story about her parents’ different reactions to her firstborn’s name.