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Published 11:27 20 Jul 2026 GMT
The meaning behind the middle name JD Vance and his wife Usha gave their newborn son has been revealed.
The couple announced the arrival of baby Alec Neel Vance, their third son, joining older brothers Ewan and Vivek, as well as their daughter Mirabel.
The newest addition to the Vance family comes after the couple announced in January that they were expecting another baby boy later this year.
"We are excited to announce that our baby boy, Alec Neel Vance, was born this morning. Usha and the baby are happy and healthy, and our kids are overjoyed to meet their little brother," the statement read.
"The incredible military doctors and staff members of Walter Reed Medical Center and the White House Medical Unit have been a blessing. We are deeply thankful for all they have done for our family," they added.
The announcement quickly drew attention to the baby's name, particularly his middle name.
According to reports, Alec is of Greek origin and is normally used as a shorter form of Alexander.
The name means "defender of men" or "protector of mankind."
His middle name, Neel, has provoked even more discussion because of its possible ties to Usha's Indian heritage.
While some sources link Neel to the Celtic names Neil or Niall, meaning "champion" or associated with "cloud," other publications believe the choice reflects the second lady's family background.
In Sanskrit, Neel means "blue" or "dark blue" and is used across several Indian languages, including Telugu, the language spoken in Andhra Pradesh, where Usha's family traces its roots.
The couple's four children's names each reflect different cultural influences. Ewan is of Celtic origin, Vivek is a Sanskrit name meaning "wisdom," Mirabel has Latin roots, while Alec also has Greek origins.
The arrival of the Vances' fourth child is especially important, as it's uncommon for a sitting US vice president to welcome a baby while serving in office.
Per The Guardian, the White House Historical Association said the last sitting vice president to become a father while in office was Schuyler Colfax, whose son, Schuyler Colfax III, was born in 1870. Before him, John C. Calhoun welcomed a son, William, in 1829 while serving as vice president.
The vice president's expanding family aligns with his long-standing calls for Americans to have more children.
Since entering politics with his 2021 Senate campaign in Ohio, the former US Marine has repeatedly spoken out about the declining birth rates in the US.
"I want more babies in the United States of America," he said at the 2025 March for Life rally in Washington.
He has also suggested that the 2025 killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was his friend, played a role in the couple's decision to have another child.
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US Vice President JD Vance spoke about how obsessed he was with his wife, Usha, before they started going out.
Usha Vance is currently pregnant with their fourth child, a boy, who is due in July.
In addition to the family's upcoming latest addition, the couple had their first son, Ewan, in 2017, before having another son, Vivek, in 2020, and a baby girl named Mirabel in 2021.
So it's fair to say that Vance's determination may have paid off, with the family set to get even bigger, 12 years after tying the knot.
However, his admission of not being able to fall "head over heels" for a girl just months before he met his wife has now become public knowledge.
The Vice President met his future wife in law school, explaining the intricacies of the relationship in his new book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, which will be released on June 16.
He admitted to one of his best friends, Mike, at the time, that he couldn't get one of his classmates off his mind.
Her name? Usha Bala Chilukuri.
Vance was in his first year of law school at Yale and had been telling his buddy about classmates and girls on campus.
Speaking of Usha, as they were in the same study group, he admitted: “Dude, I think I’m obsessed with this chick in my small group. It’s unhealthy.”
He added in the memoir shared with USA TODAY: "I told him all about her: That she was smarter than everyone. That her smile could light up a room. That she had the most amazing posture."
While it may seem quite wholesome, it turns out that Vance hadn't always felt this open about prospective relationships.
Vance had told Mike months before this admission that he wasn't the type to fall head over heels in love, despite being in a relationship with a girl called Mary at the time.
At the time, Mike was going through a breakup and Vance claimed he could never see himself being so overcome with emotion, with his friend heartbroken over the end of his relationship.
He claimed: “I hadn’t felt the same heartache in my own dating life. For a couple of years during and after college, I’d dated a girl named Mary,
“My family got along with her fine. No relationship is perfect, but nothing seemed like a deal breaker.
“Still, I could never escape the feeling that, as much as I liked her, if she were to dump me the next day, I’d get over it quickly.”
He remembered telling Mike: “Dude, I don’t think I have that gene or something,
“I’ve just never fallen head over heels for a girl. Some are better, and some are worse. I could rate Mary on all these objective criteria, and she’s mostly great.
“But would I sob if she broke up with me? No way. Isn’t that a problem?”
Mike then suggested that she might not be the "right girl," to which Vance replied: “Maybe, but maybe I’m just not that emotional.”
He remembered saying that his future wife "doesn't even walk like normal people," pointing out that "normal girls" seemed to be less stable when wearing high heels.
"Not her," Vance said, adding: "Not her. She glides across the room in whatever shoes she wears. And her laugh, man. Whenever she laughs it’s, like, the most wonderful thing. She’s super reserved, but she has this chortle that is the best sound I’ve ever heard."
The Vice President said he was interrupted by his mate, saying: “Remember when you told me you don’t have the gene where you fall head over heels for a girl? I always thought that was BS. Now I know it is.”
A bizarre theory has emerged after JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, announced that they are expecting their fourth child.
On January 20, the Second Lady of the United States posted a statement on X, which read: "We’re very excited to share the news that Usha is pregnant with our fourth child, a boy.
"Usha and the baby are doing well, and we are all looking forward to welcoming him in late July."
"During this exciting and hectic time, we are particularly grateful for the military doctors who take excellent care of our family and for the staff members who do so much to ensure that we can serve the country while enjoying a wonderful life with our children," the message concluded.
The announcement was met with well-wishes, but it didn't take long for the internet's sleuths to make their own connections.
Many began speculating that the Vances' baby might have been conceived around the end of October, after the Vice President's viral Halloween costume.
In 2025, Vance, who had become the subject of countless memes after a memorable encounter with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, decided to embrace the humor surrounding him.
The meme, which centered on his remark to Zelenskyy - 'have you said thank you once?' - was quickly transformed into viral content, with AI-generated memes depicting Vance with wild, curly hair.
The 41-year-old seized the opportunity by donning a curly-haired wig for Halloween, and sharing a TikTok video of himself greeting trick-or-treaters with a line from the meme: "Happy Halloween, kids... Remember, say thank you!"
He then proceeded to spin around with the Twilight Zone theme playing in the background.
The connection between the wig and the pregnancy was too much for some to ignore.
"The child was conceived with the wig on," one commenter joked, while another chimed in: "Late July babies are often conceived on Halloween. And don't forget, this was @VP@JDVance's costume. Congratulations!"
The couple, who have been married since 2014 after meeting at Yale Law School, have previously spoken about their interfaith marriage and how they are raising their children.
In a 2025 interview with USA TODAY, Usha dismissed rumors of marital strife, saying she and her husband find such gossip “kind of funny.”
The VP also shared insights into how they are raising their kids, explaining in a Turning Point USA event last October that while Usha was raised in a Hindu family, they had decided to raise their children Christian.
"Our two oldest kids, who go to school, they go to a Christian school," he added, per The Independent.
The Vances aren’t the only members of the Trump administration to share family news, as just last month, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, 28, announced she and her husband, real estate developer Nicholas Riccio, 59, are expecting a baby girl in May.
Published 14:51 23 Feb 2023 GMT
Paris Hilton has opened up about the meaning behind her newborn son's unique name, having apparently decided on it "years ago."
The 42-year-old DJ, businesswoman, and heiress welcomed her first child via surrogate with her husband Carter Reum, also 42, in January.
At the time, Hilton's fans had no idea she was expecting a child, going into meltdown when the star posted an image of her son's tiny hand in hers to her 22.3 million Instagram followers.
"You are already loved beyond words [...]," the caption on the upload read, which has received over 2.5 million likes.
On a recent episode of her iHeartRadio podcast This Is Paris, she revealed her son's unique name - Phoenix Barron Hilton Reum - and why she chose it, while reading an excerpt from her latest memoir, Paris.
"If all goes well, by the time you read this, Carter and I will have a baby boy. We plan to name him Phoenix, a name that I decided on years ago when I was searching cities, countries and states on a map looking for something to go with Paris and London," she stated.
She went on to say: "Phoenix has a few good pop culture reference points, but more importantly it's the bird that flames out and then rises from the ashes to fly again. I want my son to grow up knowing that disaster and triumph go around and come around throughout our lives. And that this should give us great hope for the future."
Later on, the new mom explained that her son's middle name, Barron, was a tribute to her late grandfather Barron Hilton.
She also said on the podcast, via PEOPLE: "He was always my mentor. I looked up to my grandfather so much, and we were so close, and I miss him every day. So, I really wanted to honor him by having his name in my first son's name.
"So there you go. My beautiful baby boy's name is Phoenix Barron Hilton Reum."
Hilton explained how fortunate she felt to be a mom after so many years of wanting to be one, saying: "From the moment I laid eyes on him, my heart felt so full. I feel like my life is so complete now. I always wanted to be a mom [...] I'm so happy I found the perfect partner.
"Carter, he is such an angel and such an incredible father. It's so cute seeing them together and I just love this baby so much. He's laying on my chest and looking up into my eyes, my heart just melts."
Reum and Hilton wed in 2021 after almost two years together, though Hilton had been engaged thrice previously. Reum has a daughter from a previous relationship, but his marriage to Hilton is his first.
Hilton's upcoming memoir, Paris, is set for release on March 14.
Republican Vice President JD Vance has gone through several name changes over the course of his life, with each one tied to a different stage of his upbringing and identity.
Born James Donald Bowman in Middletown, Ohio, on Aug. 2, 1984, he originally carried the surname of his biological father, Donald Bowman. But after his parents separated “around the time I started walking,” as Vance wrote in Hillbilly Elegy, his life changed dramatically.
When he was six years old, his mother, Beverly, remarried, and his stepfather, Robert Hamel, adopted him. His name was then legally changed to James David Hamel.
In his memoir, Vance explained that while his initials stayed the same, the “D” no longer stood for Donald. He rejected the idea that he had been named after an uncle named David, writing: “Any old D name would have done, so long as it wasn't Donald.”
For years, he continued using the name J.D. Hamel. It appeared on his high school diploma, military records from his service in Iraq as a Marine, his degree from The Ohio State University, and even blog posts he wrote while attending Yale Law School.
Still, Vance admitted the name never fully felt like his own, especially after his mother later divorced his adoptive father. In Hillbilly Elegy, he reflected: “I shared a name with no one I really cared about,” adding that explaining why his last name was Hamel often led to “awkward moments.”
He wrote: “Yeah, my legal father's last name is Hamel. You haven't met him because I don't see him.” He continued: “Of all the things that I hated about my childhood, nothing compared to the revolving door of father figures.”
Eventually, he chose to take the surname Vance in honor of his grandmother, Bonnie Blanton Vance, the “Mamaw” he credits with raising him through a chaotic childhood.
Campaign spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk later explained: “Throughout his tumultuous childhood, Mamaw, or Bonnie Blanton Vance, raised JD and was always his north star.”
She added: “It only felt right to him to take Vance as his last name.”
Although Hillbilly Elegy suggests the change happened around his 2014 wedding, records show he officially became James David Vance in April 2013, shortly before graduating from Yale.
The Vance surname also connected him strongly to his Appalachian roots and the “hillbilly royalty” he described in his memoir. He even noted that a distant relative connected to the Hatfield family helped spark the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud.
Later, when launching his political career in 2021, he made one more subtle adjustment: dropping the periods from “J.D.” and rebranding himself publicly as JD Vance. His campaign confirmed at the time that the new styling reflected how he wanted his name written moving forward.
Today, while his official legal name remains James David Vance, the vice president is widely known simply as JD Vance.
Published 13:12 24 Aug 2024 GMT
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