Photo: Getty Images
Lauren Alaina and her husband, Cam Arnold, shared the story behind their newborn babyâs name.
The âHeaven Sentâ artist welcomed Baby No. 1 on June 11. Beni Doll Arnold was born at 7 lbs 13oz. 19 inches long. Alaina made her surprise pregnancy announcement when she premiered her âThose Kind Of Womenâ music video earlier this year. She and Arnold quickly followed the announcement with a gender reveal to share that Baby No. 1 is a girl, and although they did not publicly share Beni Dollâs name ahead of her arrival, they confirmed theyâd selected a name inspired by family members.
On Tuesday afternoon (July 1), Alaina and Arnold shared a video explaining how they chose their daughterâs name. Alaina said:
âWe each picked a name. I picked her first name, which is Beni, and sheâs named for two people in our family, two people that have passed away. Sheâs named after my grandfather. It was my momâs dad, Papa Benny. He helped raise me, taught me how to play basketball, he bought me my first karaoke machine. If he was alive, he would tell you that he is the reason I got where I am because he bought me that karaoke machine. He was very proud of that. And I actually saw a girl years ago who was named Beni, and I just kind of jotted it down. And it wasnât even our No. 1 name at first, but we were tossing out different names and Beni came up, and we were trying to figure out how to spell it â because traditionally, itâs a boyâs name â but we knew we wanted to name her that. And Cameron said, âwell, can we do it with an I or something to make it girlier for her?â And I told him about the girl that I had seen who spelled it B-E-N-I. And he told me he loved that, and Iâll never forget it. we were at dinner and I looked up the spelling B-E-N-I, and in Japanese, Beni means crimson. And my dad passed away last year, and itâs been really hard for me this whole journey, not having him and having her. My dad was a huge Alabama fan, so the fact that B-E-N-I in Japanese means crimson, I feel like my dad said âroll tideâ from Heaven and told us how to spell it.â
Arnold explained:
âHer middle name is Doll, and thatâs for my Aunt Lucy Willard. Her middle name was â her name was Lucy Doll Arnold, and she was born on our family farm where my parents live now. Itâs like a 175-year-old home (thatâs) been in the family for over 200 years, and sheâs just been a big part of our family and she never had kids. So, it was just a little nod to keep her name in the family and pass it along.â
Arnold said Beni Doll has a âpretty cute name,â and Alaina agreed âsheâs one of a kind.â Alaina said when her daughter was born that âthe right words are hard to find to describe how parts of my heart that I didnât even knew existed were unlocked at 8:44 am when they laid you on my belly for the first time. I will never be the same. You, to your dad and me, are absolute perfection. We are honored God chose us to be your parents. Thank you to everyone for all of the love, prayers and support for our precious daughter.â