In July of 2021, Kerbe Shephard unexpectedly went into labor while visiting the Cincinnati Zoo with her husband David and son Bryce.
Later that day, the family welcomed a baby girl — born four weeks premature.
On a previous trip to the Cincinnati Zoo, Bryce had insisted that his future baby sister be named Fiona after the zoo’s famous Fiona the Hippo. (The hippo had been born six weeks premature in 2017 and required round-the-clock care in order to survive.)
At the time, Kerbe and her husband weren’t keen on Bryce’s suggestion.
My husband and I laughed, “Ok, buddy! That sounds great…we’ll add it to the list!” — knowing that we had other plans for names and we certainly wouldn’t name our daughter after a hippo.
After meeting their baby girl, though, they reconsidered.
The baby’s arrival had coincided with a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo, and she (like the hippo) was a preemie who would need special care, as she was born with both Down Syndrome and a congenital heart defect — “complications that we knew she would overcome,” said Kerbe.
So they decided to name her Fiona after all.
Sources:
- Gutzwiller, Lawson. “Baby named after Fiona the hippo gets to meet Fiona at Cincinnati Zoo.” WLWT Cincinnati 26 Aug. 2021.
- Bender, Kelli. “Baby Girl Named After Fiona the Hippo Meets the Cincinnati Zoo Animal for the First Time.” People.com 25 Aug. 2021.
Image: Adapted from Baby Hippo by Tim Sackton under CC BY-SA 2.0.
[Latest update: Feb. 2025]