Blue Ivy Carter: What Beyonce's Baby's Name Means, Experts Weigh In

When Beyonce finally gave birth on Saturday night, the biggest topic of conversation was the name: Blue Ivy. Over the last few months -- which felt like years -- there were several predictions for what this baby would be called: Brooklyn (after the popular Jay-Z lyric "If we had a daughter, guess what I'm a call her? Brooklyn Carter), Sasha (as in Fierce, Beyonce's alter ego), Babyonce (har har), the list goes on.

So, why Blue Ivy? Though the new parents have now confirmed that's the name, through Jay-Z in rap, they haven't given out any reasons. Instead, the Twitterverse piped up with several 140-character explanations.

Conspiracy theorists drew a connection between Blue Ivy and "Eulb Yvi", claiming it was Latin for Lucifer's daughter, and that exploded on Twitter. The Examiner debunked that interpretation by saying that the Bible makes no mention of Lucifer having a daughter and that there's no match to Eulb Yvi in the Latin dictionary. (Fun fact: Did you know it's illegal to name your child Lucifer in New Zealand?)

There are several more logical explanations for the choices. Good Morning America suggested that Ivy is a play on the Roman numeral IV. The number four is significant to the power couple -- they married on April 4th, (4/4), both of their birthdays are on the 4th (September and December), and Beyonce's fourth studio album was called "4."

"Ivy, a symbol of fertility, is an old-fashioned name enjoying a resurgence," Pamela Satran, naming expert and co-founder of Nameberry.com told The Huffington Post. "It's just cracked the Top 300 for the first time since the 1890s, making it a stylish steampunk choice."

Linda Rosenkrankrantz, co-founder of Nameberry, adds that there was a jazz singer Ivy (aka Ivie) Anderson who sang with Duke Ellington. Do Beyonce and Jay-Z know her?

"Uncertain. But when I heard the name Blue I did think of Billie Holiday and Lady Sings the Blues," said Satran.

As for the baby's first name, according to International Business Times, it's simple: Jay-Z's favorite color. But, Satran and Rosenkrantz point out that Mr. and Mrs. Z aren't the first celebrities to use it. Satran said:

"Blue is one of the new color names that's been most enthusiastically embraced by celebrities, sometimes spelled the French way, Bleu, which might have been expected for Beyonce whose own name along with sister Solange's has French origins."

Cher and Gregg Allman may have started it all with their son Elijah Blue. John Travolta and Kelly Preston's daughter is Ella Bleu, Geri Halliwell's daughter is Bluebell, and last May, Alicia Silverstone chose "Blu" as the middle name to her highly critiqued baby boy name, Bear.

Satran also notes the other famous little girl who shares the name with Blue Ivy is the precocious heroine of the hip 2006 novel "Special Topics in Calamity" physics.

Here at HuffPost Parents, we're fans of the name. But what do you think?

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Blue Ivy will most likely hold the title of "most memorable baby name of 2012", but click through this gallery of 2011 names we just can't forget:

Comments

[PrinceofCali]

01:56 AM on 01/11/2013

You know this is all bad and what not, but all of you people who say "just worry about yourself and where you stand with God", why just do that? that's cowardice. That's what most of us Americans do is just worry about ourselves. Maybe we should do something and help our country out by exposing this kind of stuff.

[Felix Scott]

12:09 AM on 12/01/2012

Don't worry about them and if they are going to the lake of fire with their kid. You need to be concerned about your relationship with God and where you are going. Dwezil Zappa, Gregory, Gregory,(Comic Dick Gregory's son) and all of the boys in George Foreman's family are named George, There really ought to be a law against parents naming their children stupid names in this country, but this it the land of the free and the home of the brave. During my career as a public school teacher I saw names with 15 letters in them that Kindergartner's were supposed to write on a sheet of paper. One of the proficiencies that are expected is a child must be competent to write their name to graduate Kindergarten. However mama's spell the names any kind of way they want to since it is their prerogative to spell the name any way they choose and make it as long as they want to. For a while American blacks were naming their children all kinds of African names that were 15 and 20 letters long. However some African's were naming their children with short three and four letter names. It was often the joke of the teacher's lounge when we discussed the names that these poor children had. It was not their fault they had a mother who may have not been thinking clearly or understanding how important a relatively short name is in this country.

[Askanda Salam Tonda]

09:12 PM on 09/13/2012

whether good or bad, there is something in Islam that we call al-kadar which means pre destination so Allah knows what the child is to grow and do in this world but prayers is the only thing dat can change the destiny so instead of talking much abt this issue, i will suggest we should rather pray for the little girl. Abraham(as) father was a polytheist. asalaamu alaikum

[DayIight]

12:40 AM on 05/22/2012

This clears up any skepticism I had on them not being demonically involved...

They rented out an entire wing of the Manhattan Len. Hospital for her birth and reportedly "re-decorated" the room. They did that for a ritual, and didn't want anyone to hear/see what went on in the room.

[mike-G]

08:20 AM on 04/01/2012

See even if that kid's name meaning was truly Lucifer's daughter it's not a big deal. You should be worried about yourselves I mean where do you stand with God. for those who are in Christ Jesus there's no condemnation and there's nothing to worry about because God is in control of every little single detail of every thing. Now if you are not in good terms with God, that is a serious huge deal because no body is going to be good enough to have your back they all have limits, they will seriously disappoint you except God. So repent and stay clean, be eager to live in peace with every one and holy as your Father in heaven is for Jesus Christ is coming back very soon. And this time He's coming in all his glory to judge, set things straight, settle the record and make things right once and for all.

[mike-G]

08:18 AM on 04/01/2012

love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you! Stop wasting your time people!!! stop criticizing and judging others, you are no God and have no right saying things you know nothing about. Be like Jesus Christ who didn't judge sinners even though He new exactly who they were instead He brought them back in the right path. You should be ashamed of yourselves and working on some strategy to save them rather than criticizing and judging them. what you are doing is not healthy for you and it doesn't help any one at all. Pray for them so that the father in Heaven may set them free, unless your faith in God is too little for Him to do that. Don't you see how beneficial it will be in the kingdom of God if they become true believers in Jesus Christ.

[ReanaBanana]

12:27 PM on 03/20/2012

The "Ivy" is a reference to the number 4, spelled out as it would be in roman numerals. If you look at the following picture, you'll notice she has "IV" (roman numeral 4) tattoos on her ring finger (4th finger). This fits with all the other "4" references mentioned in the article as well.

http://mrsgrapevine.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/beyonce_tattoo_ring_finger2.png

[Awe Yusuf]

09:15 AM on 03/20/2012

Don't be surprise if that child grew up and become something else. Evil parents begot evil child.

[Awe Yusuf]

09:11 AM on 03/20/2012

TO ME THE NAME IS EVIL

[gloria ibukun akintoye]

11:33 AM on 03/15/2012

Why are people so dumb that they would rather accept the fact that "Beyond" or whatever her name is, actually named her daughter after the Lucifar or it's purported daughter than name her after God. That was how Whitney married herself to death. This one has married herself to death too!

[big girl50]

09:07 AM on 02/03/2012

your baby name is soooooo cute and can't wait 2 c some pictures of her

[btrue2u]

02:21 AM on 01/31/2012

congrats to bey and jay. may GOD bless your family and keep all the negative people away. Im sure your baby is beautiful. when ever you decide to share her pics with the public is your choice. people think talking bad about someone is going to make them respond by wanting to share what is most precious to them. Its nothing but mass media bullying. lay off people. its her business. just because she enjoys performing and is good at it does not mean she should be a target for all this negative. there are many more that love you beyonce. stay strong girl

[jj526]

09:50 AM on 01/25/2012

i suggest to do some more research after the pregnancy of beyonce, she showed her babybelly at the vma 2011, this was at the end of august. Then she already was +- three months pregnant. And she gave birth in january, thats 9 months. Then she made a video when she was 6 months pregnant, search it at youtube, she has a backstage video of the clip countdown.. ofcourse you coun'dt tell in every shot that she was pragnant, how do you think it will sell.. in de official video you can see it very clear at de second 00:36.. please, do your research

[lilbree688]

09:47 AM on 01/22/2012

Ok well im not one to judge but I worry about some of those children who have to grow up with names like, FACEBOOK,LIKE, TWITTER, I mean really? These poor children are going to get picked on for these names... Bear Blue? Rich and famous or not those poor children are going to have a tough life.

[maniemanoue]

01:04 AM on 01/22/2012

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