Celebrity baby name: Rainbow Aurora

Hugh Hefner’s former girlfriend Holly Madison welcomed a baby girl last week.

The dad isn’t Hef, though — it’s Holly’s current boyfriend, Pasquale Rotella.

And the baby’s name? Rainbow Aurora Rotella.

Not long after the name was announced, Holly apparently felt she had to start defending it:

I have always loved the name Rainbow. There was a girl in my school a few years younger than me named Rainbow and I was so envious of her name because it was so pretty and unusual. She was a perfectly normal, well-adjusted, sporty girl, by the way, so I’m not worried about my daughter being “traumatized” by having an unusual name.

There are a lot of smug haters out there who bag on my choice of a name, but I don’t care about what they think. I want my daughter to be proud of who she is and learn to speak up and stand up for herself at a young age. I spent most of my life being a people-pleaser who worried about what other people thought or thought was cool and I don’t want that for her.

(This reasoning reminds me of Joel Madden’s reasoning behind the baby name Sparrow: “I wanted to give him a name that he’s going to have to stand up for.”)

What are your thoughts on the baby name Rainbow?

Update, October 2020: Rainbow more than doubled in usage in the SSA data back in 2013, likely thanks to celebrity baby Rainbow.

  • 2014: 10 baby girls named Rainbow
  • 2013: 16 baby girls named Rainbow
  • 2012: 7 baby girls named Rainbow
  • 2011: 10 baby girls named Rainbow

Source: Madison, Holly. “On My Baby’s Name.” Celebuzz 8 Mar. 2013.

7 thoughts on “Celebrity baby name: Rainbow Aurora

  1. Little Rainbow has Holly Madison for a mom. I think it is safe to say that there’s a lot about her life that will be different …

    I’m not sure that her name presents the most challenging part!

  2. I’m drawing a blank, but isn’t there another celebrity with a child named Rainbow?

    Rainbow Aurora sounds like a My Little Pony, but she can always go by Raina if she’s not as gregarious as her mother…

  3. I like Rainbow OR Aurora, but both is a bit much! I guess if she attends a Waldorf school, her name will be one of the ordinary ones! (We participate in a Waldorf community, so I’m not saying that to bag Waldorf, only to defend the name choice) besides, Rainbow for a girl is nowhere near Sparrow for a boy in challenging community notions and thus aiding or abetting self esteem! Besides she will probably get called Rain, which is a nice earthy name, and the young adult sister of my daughter is named “rain”, and it works on many levels.
    Young Rainbow Aurora is much more likely to have issues with her parents’ celebrity/ notoriety than her name!

  4. I obviously love the name choice! My parents were brae enough to give me my unique name & although its had its challenges in the end I wouldn’t want any other name. Good choice & I’m thrilled to know that there are more Rainbows popping up ;)

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