Kanye West wanted to honor his late mother by naming his third child “Donda.”
When Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s surrogate gave birth at the beginning of the year, many people were insanely curious about what the couple would name their third child. With North and Saint preceding Baby #3, anything was fair game in terms of what Kim and Ye would write on the birth certificate. Chicago West drew initial mixed reactions and though the name makes sense given Kanye’s roots in the Illinois city, many were surprised by their choice of names. During her interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Kim noted that Chicago was not always the front-runner as each of the two had their favorite names.
Kim wanted to keep things consistent with North and Saint’s monikers, wishing for a one-syllable name for Chicago. While that clearly did not end up happening, the reality star had thrown around the name Grace as well as Jo, after her grandmother. Many had predicted that the couple would name their baby after Ye’s late mother Donda and, according to the mother of three, the name was thrown around. “He really wanted his mother’s name,” revealed Kim before explaining why they went against it. “I love that name too. I just wasn’t sure if it’s so much to live up to. Donda wasn’t in the one-syllable either. I just felt like Chicago was cool and different.”
As Kim seemingly tries her hand at being the “cool mom,” she remarked that the couple refers to Chicago by her nickname, “Chi,” keeping things short and sweet in the one-syllable range. Check out the video below to hear about their baby-naming dilemma and about how Kanye played “Connect 4” during the birth of his daughter in January. Do you think they chose the right name?
