Arie Luyendyk Jr. And Lauren Burnham Explain Why They Chose The Name ‘Alessi’ For Their Daughter

Former Bachelor Arie Luyendyk Jr. and his wife Lauren Burnham are now parents to an adorable little girl. While the beginning of their love story was certainly rocky, they both got their happy ever after last week when they finally welcomed their daughter, Alessi Ren, into the world. Burnham documented her pregnancy for fans by posting weekly updates on an Instagram page called Baby Luyendyk. Fans of the famous couple enjoyed the comical posts, told from the perspective of the unborn baby growing in the womb. Now that Alessi has been born, her parents continue to update the page with photos of her growth. Many fans have been curious about why Burnham and Luyendyk chose this unusual name. The couple has finally revealed their inspiration, according to PopCulture.

Alessi Ren is hardly a name that you hear every day, so it’s clear that the couple was going for something unique. As soon as Burnham found out she was pregnant, she was already focused on deciding on the perfect name for her child. She first officially announced publicly that she was expecting in November of 2018 and decided on the name by Christmas day, after much deliberation.

“I think it was on Christmas Day when we decided. I was looking online at girl names once we found out the gender. I found Alessia and loved it and Arie said, ‘What if we dropped the A from the end?’ And we both knew that was it. The name means possessing a charming, easy going nature, which endears her to others… a serious desire to understand heart and mind of everyone.”

But where did the child’s middle name, Ren, come from? Their reason was actually quite simple. They wanted to include a piece of Burnham’s name in their daughter’s title, so they took the last three letters from the name Lauren.

“The middle name is a nod to Lauren’s name. Just like I’m named after my dad, Alessi is named after Lauren,” Luyendyk explained.

The new parents have had plenty of family over in the week following Alessi’s birth and have been swarmed with congratulatory messages on social media. After all of the excitement, they’re looking forward to settling into a routine again.

Luyendyk recalled the moment he looked at his daughter’s fingers and saw that they were exactly the same as his. It was at that moment that he truly realized that Alessi was made up of both he and Burnham.

“A very emotional moment thinking this baby is obviously half of each of us. It’s just really special,” he said.