Creative Baby Names: Art World starbabies

Sure, we know that rockers and rappers are infamous for being the most inventive—which is to say extreme—band of baby namers.  But what about artists at the other end of the spectrum—the Fine Art painters and sculptors. Are they equally creative when naming their kids?

Getting the answer to this question proved to be a little more difficult than I’d thought, since these art world denizens and their offspring don’t appear much in the tabs, and most of their biographies downplay their domestic lives.  But my digging did produce some evidence that their creativity did extend to a number of artists’ children’s name choices.

Here are some truly creative baby names chosen by both superstars of the art world and others who might be less well known.  Most are modern/contemporary painters and sculptors, but with a few irresistible older masters’ names thrown in.

GIRLS

Amaryllis—Augustus John

Beatrice (Bebe) –Tony Smith

Candida—David Smith

Chiara (who became the artist Kiki)– Tony Smith

Cordy—Robert Ryman

Dominie—R. B. Kitaj

Gwynne—Larry Rivers

Harumi–Balthus

India—Maya Lin

Isabetta—Alice Neel

Jaroslava—Alphonse Mucha

Kizette–Tamara de Lempicka

Lola—Julian Schnabel

Lorenza (called Lola)—Salvador Scarpitta

Lyndon (called Lyn)—Kenneth Noland

Mara—Al Held

March—Milton Avery

Maro—Archile Gorky

Maya—Pable Picasso

Melia –Brice Marden

Mirabelle—Brice Marden

Musa—Philip Guston

Ona—Will Barnet

Paloma—Pablo Picasso (shown as painted by her father)

Poppet—Augustus John

Rainier Yingling—Donald Judd

Santillana—Alice Neel

Saskia—Red Grooms

Seton—Tony Smith

Sonny—Ed Ruscha

Stella—Julian Schnabel

Twinka—Wayne Thibault

Vida Rose—Craig Kauffman

Wilhelmina—Craig Kauffman

BOYS

Angus Orion—John Chamberlain

Anton Lemuel (called Lem)–R. B. Kitaj

Beau—Dan Flavin

Cassius Atticus—Damien Hirst

Cedd—Ed Moses

Connor Ojala –Damien Hirst

Cy—Julian Schnabel

Cyrus Joe—Damien Hirst

Flavin Starbuck—Donald Judd (after his friend and fellow artist Dan Flavin)

Hartley—Alice Neel

Jarvis—Norman Rockwell

Ludwig—Jeff Koons

Mitchell—Roy Lichtenstein

Neel—Alice Neel

Olmo—Julian Schnabel

Thaddeus—Balthus

Ulrich (called Jimmy) –Max Ernst

Vito—Julian Schnabel