Ryan Reynolds is usually tight-lipped when it comes to the topic of his 18-month old daughter, but he recently spoke out to defend her gender-neutral name, James—a tribute to Reynolds’s late father.
The actor, on a press tour for his upcoming film Deadpool, spoke to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, where one of the co-hosts called the child’s conventionally boyish name an “unusual choice.” Reynolds quipped, “I feel like we’re not breaking any new ground here. I mean, I didn’t call her Summer Squash Meadow Lark or something.”
They certainly are not breaking new ground. It’s the 21st century—gender-neutral names are nothing new. Blake and Ryan are both gender-neutral names as well, so their child’s name only seems fitting. We’ve come across children with far more questionable names (maybe not Summer Squash Meadow Lark, though). Is it really an issue that a female was given a traditionally masculine name?
Our respect goes out to Reynolds and Lively for raising their daughter to NOT conform to the gender binary. Though we see nothing wrong with traditional or non gender-neutral monikers, Blake and Ryan are definitely teaching James that nothing stands between boys and girls, not even their names.