Rumer Willis has revealed that the name for her daughter, who she welcomed in April, was actually inspired by a text typo.
The actress, 35, spoke candidly about her daughter, who she shares with boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas, during a recent interview with People. Willis went on to explain that while her daughter goes by Louetta, that wasn’t the name that she and Thomas had initially planned.
“We were thinking about the name Loretta, and it was a typo,” she said. “Her dad and I were texting, and he left the ‘R’ out of Loretta, and it was just Louetta.”
Willis - the daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore - added that, after her partner made the typo in his text, she came to realise that she liked the name “Louetta” better than “Loretta”.
“I was like: ‘Oh, I love that!’ I feel like it was one of those kind of divine intervention universe moments, and we figured it out actually quite early in my pregnancy,” she explained.
However, according to The House Bunny star, she initially had a few concerns about if the name would be the best fit for her daughter.
“What was scary was, I love this name, but oh man, is it going to be her name? Is it the right name?” she continued. What if she comes out and doesn’t look like this?”
Despite her mixed feelings about the name during her pregnancy, Willis said she realised that she wanted to call her baby “Lou” once she was born.
“I fell in love with the name so much, so early on, that I was then worried that it wouldn’t work,” she said. “But then she came out, and I mean, to me, at least right now, I was going to name her Lou, whether she was a boy or a girl.”
She also added that both she and Thomas wanted to pick a name that had some “versatility” to it, before describing some of the different nicknames that her daughter could choose to go by.
“If she doesn’t feel like a Louetta, she can go by Lou, she can go by Etta,” she said. “She can go change it up throughout her life. Whatever she wants.”
Earlier this year, Willis took to Instagram to announce the birth of her first child. “Louetta Isley Thomas Willis. You are pure magic,” she wrote in the caption, alongside a snap of her then-newborn. “Born at home on Tuesday April 18th. You are more than we ever dreamed of.”
Along with opening up about her baby’s name, Willis has also taken to social media to speak candidly about her experiences as a mother. Earlier this week, she hit back at criticism on Instagram after she shared a photo of herself breastfeeding her daughter.
When Instagram users questioned her for sharing the selfie, with claims that she posted it “for attention,” the actress expressed how she viewed the ability to feed her daughter as a “privilege,” and accused critics of holding “a limited view of” breastfeeding.
She continued defending her decision to post the photo, explaining how she wanted it to lessen the “shame” that women face.
“I think it’s incredibly important to share because there is an incredible amount of shame that comes with being born into a female body,” Willis wrote. “And I want to lead by example in teaching my daughter that she doesn’t have to be ashamed of her body ever and that she can decide how she wants to share it.”
