Eva Mendes has revealed why she and Ryan Gosling gave their daughters, Esmeralda Amada and Amada Lee, the same names. Turns out, it has to do with the actress’ Latin culture.
When their first daughter was born in 2014, Mendes revealed that Amada was her grandmother’s name and meant “beloved” in Spanish. In giving her second daughter the same name, Amada became even more meaningful.
“We had a few names picked out for our new baby, and when she was born, we didn’t feel like those names were her,” the 42-year-old explained in the September 2016 issue of Latina magazine. “We came up with a few more, even that morning, and tried them out. We were like, ‘What about Viviana?’ But we just kept going back to Amada.”
“In true Latin fashion, we reuse names all the time,” the actress continued. “I used to know five sisters that were all Maria del Carmen, Maria Elena, Maria Liliana… I actually told Ryan, ‘This is common in Latin culture, so it wouldn’t be crazy.’ So we went with Amada because it was something we kept going back to.”
Amada Lee was born in April, just 12 days after Mendes’ brother Carlos died of cancer at the age of 53. As a result, the actress was even more convinced that Amada was the right choice for her second baby girl.
“It was an emotional time with the passing of my brother,” Mendes said. “We thought how beautiful to go with what made us emotional and with what felt like her. When we looked at her, we thought, ‘Aww, Amadita.’”
This is the first time Mendes has opened up about her newborn daughter, as she and longtime partner Gosling are notoriously private. However, back in May, Gosling did reveal that life as a new dad-of-two was “heaven.”
“It's like walking through a field of flowers every day,” he said. “I live with angels.”
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