Yahoo News Kim Kardashian Says She Chose to Name Daughter North After Jay Leno Made a Joke About It
Kim Kardashian West has Jay Leno to thank for coming up with her daughter North West‘s unique moniker.
In a video posted onto Kylie Jenner‘s YouTube account on Tuesday, Kim, 39, opened up about how she came up with her children’s distinctive names, revealing that she named her firstborn child North after hearing the name during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
“I actually got it from Jay Leno, who made that as a joke,” she told her sister, explaining that it took her “four or five days” to settle on the moniker.
Though Kim initially said on the show that she would “never” name her daughter North, 6, the mom of four recalled the epithet growing on her in days following her appearance.
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“Everyone was coming up to me like, ‘It’s such a cool name. You should really think about it,'” she remembered.
The KKW Beauty founder said she finally settled on North’s name when family friend Pharrell Williams approached her with “all these meanings” for the word.
“They really become the name you name them,” she added of her child, remarking how North’s name suits her personality.
In March 2013, Kim appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to discuss her pregnancy. When the host, 69, asked her if she and Kanye West were thinking about the name North, the star responded with a laugh, “There are so many rumors. That is not true.”
“That is not one of the names on the list,” she said on the show.
At the time, Kim told Leno that she liked the name Easton.
“It kind of goes with North,” she said. “I think that’s cute.”
In the same video posted on Friday, Kim also shared how she came up with the moniker for the rest of her three kids: Saint, 4, Chicago, 2, and Psalm, 8 months.
“Kanye came up with Saint,” she said. “Chicago took me like two weeks.”
“And Psalm, you named him,” Kim told her youngest sister.
To which Jenner, 22, replied, “Well, you thought of it. I vouched for it.”
A source close to Kanye previously confirmed to PEOPLE that the name was a reflection on the rapper’s recent renewed dedication to his Christian faith.
“Kanye has been going through a spiritual revival lately. Every name has a meaning that is personal between Kanye and Kim and the child,” the source said. “Psalm is a good reflection of where Kanye and Kim are spiritually.”
“I know that both of them read the Bible regularly now. Kanye loves the Books of Poetry of the Bible: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. He reads them over and over,” the source added. “Psalms is the longest book in the Bible, but Kanye believes that there’s a lot of wisdom in them.”
The word “Psalm” means “song” in Hebrew.
