Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand has made history by being just the second woman in history to give birth while being office! And now, a few days after her historic birth, she finally reveals her daughter’s name!
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Who is Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern?
In January of this year, Jacinda Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford announced that they were expecting a child. She shared that she only found out that she was pregnant just six days after taking her oath of office.
She gave birth to her first child, a healthy baby girl weighing 7.3 pounds, on June 21. Coincidentally, it was also the birthday of Benazir Bhutto, the first world leader to give birth while in office.
Jacinda Ardern is remarkable not only for giving birth while in office, but she also belongs to one of the few countries to ever have a female head of state. She is New Zealand’s third female prime minister.
Amazingly, while New Zealand allows for 22 weeks paid parental leave, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced she will only be taking six months leave.
She shares, “And in terms of being a woman in politics, there are plenty of women who carved a path and incrementally have led the way to be able to make it possible for people to look upon my time in leadership and think, ‘Yes, I can do the job and be a mother.'”
“I’m not the first woman to work and have a baby. I know these are special circumstances but they’ll be many women who will have done this well before I have. I acknowledge those women,” she adds.
What Did She Name Her Baby?
Of course, one of the most talked about things aside from her birth is what she would name her newborn daughter.
She shared that she and her partner struggled before they settled on a name, and even had a list prepared. The couple finally chose to name their daughter Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford.
The name “Neve” (pronounced similar to leave) means radiant, or light. “Te Aroha” means love, and it’s also the name of a mountain near where the Prime Minister grew up.
They will be calling their daughter Neve Gayford for short.
She shares, “We wanted to wait until the baby arrived to really see which one felt like it worked, we chose Neve because we just liked it and when we met her we thought she looked she suited the name.”
“All of the names that were gifted along the way, I thought how do I reflect the generosity, particularly from all the iwi (Maori tribes) who gifted us names and Te Aroha seemed to me to be a way we could show that love and generosity,” she added.
Watch the video below to see her announcement:
Source: CNN
Photo screencapped from: Twitter
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