Neve Campbell: How I Chose My Son’s Name

Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Neve Campbell is no stranger in the sea of unusual names.

So when it came to her now 5-month-old son, the actress, wanting him to follow in her footsteps, skipped the mundane monikers.

“We looked through a lot of books and I liked the idea of a unique name,” Campbell, 39, shared during a Monday appearance on The Talk.

“I like having a unique name — it’s [my mom's] maiden name, Neve — and not a lot of people have it. It’s nice having something special and different and so I wanted something like that for our son.”

Before baby boy’s birth, Campbell and JJ Feild had narrowed down their picks to five favorites, but after their first child was born, the winning name was an obvious choice.

“We decided that we’d wait and see and meet him and then decide,” she explains. “And … when  he was born we realized we could only remember one and that was Caspian, so it seemed like it was right.”

– Anya Leon

Comments

LMAO on December 27th, 2012

Sounds very Narnian to me I like it .

amber on December 27th, 2012

LOVE IT!

Jeannie on December 27th, 2012

I was thinking the same thing… It sounds like she borrowed the name from CS Lewis.

Carmel on December 27th, 2012

I hope when he makes a mistake, they say “Caspian SEE what you’ve done” heh

Abbie on December 27th, 2012

Teena that is what I was thinking too!!! Narnia. I like the name Caspian Feild.

Mallory on December 27th, 2012

I like having a unique name too it’s one that more people have then you’d think in terms of overall world wide population but not in one city or town or school. I’ve always said I don’t want my kids to be a first name and an initial (ie Ashley A) because there’s four other kids with the same name in their class. Unfortunately some of my fav names from when I met my fiance are now quite common so I’m having to do some rethinking

Maddie on December 27th, 2012

lovely name!

Margo on December 27th, 2012

My first thought was the Chronicles of Narnia … but I actually kinda like it

Paige on December 27th, 2012

i just had a nerd moment.I loved C.S. Lewis. I read all his books and that was the first thing thought of when I heard the name.

mytwocents on December 27th, 2012

Prince Caspian… It is Narnia.

Marie on December 27th, 2012

My most favorite actress ever!! love her! Caspian is such a cutie!!!

KW on December 27th, 2012

Casper the friendly ghost

Amy on December 27th, 2012

I like it. Unique, but not weird

ch on December 27th, 2012

It does sound very Narnian!!!!

Anonymous on December 27th, 2012

Caspian? Like in, Sea? Just another celebrity idiot.

Kim on December 27th, 2012

@ Mallory, my daughter’s name is Ashley and guess what she is the only Ashley in her entire school grades K-6! We looked thru the whole yearbook..lol..plus we don’t know any other Ashley’s..I think everybody is trying to give unique or different names such that the once common names are now different!

jones on December 27th, 2012

Narnia! I like the name. It is unique, but not completely bizarre.

Anonymous on December 27th, 2012

For some reason I like this name. It’s different & unique but not really too bad, like some celebrities have named their children.

DaisyMoon on December 27th, 2012

Truly dumb name….

epmmrp on December 27th, 2012

As in “Caspian Sea”

Anonymous on December 27th, 2012

Like

SoNotHollywood on December 27th, 2012

I like it. I like that it’s not a fruit or city name though. But unique. My husband and I don’t want children, at least for now, but if it happened, he def want’s something other than Mary or George or something so normal. Because we are so NOT normal haha.

Chrissy on December 27th, 2012

It’s unusual but it’s not terrible. At least it sounds like a man’s name, and not an adjective.

Anonymous on December 27th, 2012

Like it

Kd on December 27th, 2012

Cute name you can nick name him Casp or Casper <3

Jenn on December 27th, 2012

Nope don’t like it.

Anonymous on December 27th, 2012

Caspian is very cute. Not all out there like a lot of celebrity baby names.

oldenoughnow on December 27th, 2012

well, no one will spell the surname right anyway….and the first name is a body of water, which is fine…but her name would never be pronounced right if she weren’t a “celebrity” and I wouldn’t like to be associated with a nevus….but hey, if she added an R she could be Never, which is very good (I know, there’s an Ever out there). I agree, unusual names are better, as long as they are spellable and pronouncable. oh wait, maybe his surname is Campbell. Caspian Campbell. eeeek!!!

holly on December 27th, 2012

I like the name (and the Narnia books)

Suzie on December 27th, 2012

I took a name that wasn’t commonly used in 1997 and just changed the spelling for my daughter. Her name is Destany. My youngest son got his middle name while my husband and I were watching “That 70′s Show”. Ashton Kutcher was his favorite and he said the middle name is Ashton, well I heard Astin and we both liked it. That is what my sons middle name ended up being. Not bizarre but definitely not heard all the time.

Jessie on December 27th, 2012

If she wants to meet a bunch of people with the same name as her she should visit Ireland! I’ve known a fair few girls called Niamh.

Ana on December 27th, 2012

Poor baby! Caspian? As in Caspian Sea? People will be calling him Pacific, Atlantic, Mediterranean, …

Ana on December 27th, 2012

OMG! There should be a law protecting babies from some crazy parents and their snobbish wish to stand out in a crowd. Reading these e-mails made me think how shallow and stupid people are. They change letters in common names, they make up new names, they do anything to be different at their child’s expense. There is a law for this in Europe. You can’t just throw a stone inside a bin and naming your child according to the sound it makes.

Lindi on December 27th, 2012

I like this name……probably wouldn’t have chosen it for my own but it’s not too bizarre ! I was the only Lindi in elementary thru Highschool and I liked that. I gave my children something a little different……Payne, Reed and Leyton

dodi on December 27th, 2012

I don’t like it personally, but that means nothing. Congratulations on your new baby boy ~ Caspian

Lolo on December 27th, 2012

Like the name! Loved it in Narnia. People take names from movies &popular literature all the time. It is a cool, masculine name…unique and cool!

pixie on December 27th, 2012

*sigh*

Amanda on December 27th, 2012

I find myself liking this in spite of myself, you know? Yes, it’s a body of water, and a character in a beloved children’s series, but the Phish song Prince Caspian comes to my mind, too, which is one of my favorites. I like unique names, but not so unique that people would be like,”You named your baby WHAT?” My son is Julian Reed (Reed is now becoming popular, but I don’t know any other Julians. My daughter is Genevieve Lynn, and she was named after a song by The Kinks. We liked it because of the array of nicknames that she could go by. One of them being “Neve,” incidentally. But Genny, Genny Lynn, Evie, Vivi, Viv, Eve, Evvy…but what has ended up sticking, strangely enough, is “Weavy,” because Jules couldn’t say Evie.

I don’t understand why people get so upset by what celebrities name their children. Their peers are likely going to have names that we think of as bizarre, but in the celebrity culture, it’s normal. The child can always go by a nickname, if he/she chooses. There are far worse things inflicted upon children in this country that are more harmful and barbaric than a name. They like it, and nobody else’s opinions matter. My family thought that I was joking when I announced Genevieve’s name. Now it’s obvious that she could have no other name.

But this website has just been so full of bashing and negativity lately. I respect people’s rights to say whatever they want, but really wish that we, as a whole, didn’t have to reduce ourselves to name calling and belittling people over their child’s name. I highly doubt that kids will ridicule Caspian by calling him “Mediterranean” or “Pacific.” Mainly because most people here didn’t even know that the Caspian is a body of water, and an overwhelming number of American citizens can’t even find our own country on a map, let alone possess the geographical knowledge needed to make fun of someone who is named after a relatively obscure body of water on the other side of the world.

And like I said, I’d focus on the other things that this country finds acceptable to perpetrate on children. Ridiculous names are really low on the list of priorities of things for parents to be scrupulous about.

Emily on December 27th, 2012

Meh.

leviathanenvy on December 27th, 2012

I’ll go with Caspian over things like Pilot Inspektor and Kal-El any day. These celebrities and their choice of names. Think of the kids when they’re older and want to be doctors or lawyers. Because Dr. Pilot Inspektor Lee is going to find a cure for cancer. That sounds awfully odd.

pixie on December 27th, 2012

Ok, fine….so people say stop the bashing, fair enough. But, it also sounds incredibly condescending and uppity when people say they didn’t give their kid a “mundane” name. Come on. Our names are a part of what makes us human.

“Caspian” isn’t too bad of a name. But some of the others…OMG. To name your kid after inanimate objects, foods, colors etc., effectively dehumanizes them. I have an internationally recognized name that is spelled just slightly differently than you commonly see it in the U.S. (due to the fact that my parents are from eastern Europe) and I’ve had to deal with all sorts of headaches throughout my life with misspellings on everything. And that is just a slight difference, mind you. When people get really crazy with spellings and whatnot, thinking they’re being unique, I don’t think they’re putting much thought into what a nightmare that will be for the kid growing up.

Angie on December 27th, 2012

Everyone has the right to name their child what they want. It is their right. I love the name and to those that don’t that is your opinion.

Charli on December 27th, 2012

I really like the name!

Anonymous on December 27th, 2012

Love that name! <3

ana on December 28th, 2012

True! Everybody has the right to name their child what they want. But what about the child? Would it cross their parents minds that some names could be a burden? Or maybe that their kids don’t want to stand out, they just want to fit in, like everybody else? I know! They don’t care! It’s way more important to be different. To me these parents are just stupid and selfish.

Anonymous on December 28th, 2012

Love the name.

Abby on December 28th, 2012

I like it!

Shawna on December 28th, 2012

CUTE name!

CherryBerry on December 28th, 2012

Shocking, yet another celebrity finds the dumbest name possible.

Anonymous on December 28th, 2012

At least she didn’t name him Narnia.

JJ on December 28th, 2012

Jessie – Neve Campbell’s name is pronounced Nev – not Neeve, so going to Ireland and meeting Niamh’s would not help her meet someone with her name.

Michelle on December 28th, 2012

well said.

Jessie on December 28th, 2012

JJ, Niamh can be pronounced Neve, especially in anglicised forms like in the US. I know two girls who pronounce it “neve” although their parents used the traditional spelling.

Anonymous on December 29th, 2012

Ana- Didn’t you even read Neve’s explanation for why she picked a unique name? It’s because she has one and *gasp* LIKES the fact that she does (and LIKED standing out and not having the same name as a bunch of other kids in her class!)! Who says her son won’t also like his unique name?

pixie- Not everyone with a unique name frets over people misspelling or pronouncing it. My first name is fairly common, but my last name is not. But it doesn’t bother me. If I’m in a situation where it’s important that my name be spelled properly, I spell it out before the person even has a chance to ask.

Otherwise, I simply laugh off any mishaps!

Anyway, I like the name Neve and JJ chose!

Anonymous on December 29th, 2012

why would they call him Capsian Sea? there are bunch of people named after cities like Paris, Landon (or London) and it is quite common not even weird, I like the name, it’s cute, reminds many of the tales by CS Lewis. Kids always get teased if not about their names than about anything else.

lovely name

Elara on December 30th, 2012

Cute name. Different but not so odd, like so many other Hollywood parents choose.

Is it just me or does she look an awful lot like Holly Marie Combs in this picture? The two of them could be sisters!

chris on March 28th, 2013

You know what i think i like that name, Caspain.