Angelina Jolie Is Cool With Her Kids Names

Karen Thomas,
USA TODAY

Maddox is growing to be among the most popular baby names for boys.

Is Pax next?

Angelina Jolie's adoption of a Vietnamese boy she named Pax Thien Jolie was finalized Thursday, and the actress is due to bring him to the USA next week. Jolie is in the country with her Cambodian-born son Maddox, 5, while the multicultural family patriarch, Brad Pitt, stays in the USA with daughters Zahara, 2, and Shiloh, 10 months.

Pitt is under contract to be filming in Los Angeles, and he is expected to formally adopt Pax. Af for Jolie, she has cleared her work schedule in order to focus on the new addition to the family.

"I will stay at home to help Pax adjust to his new life," Jolie told Vietnam'sHo Chi Minh City Law newspaper on Friday. "I have four children and caring for them is the most important thing for me at the moment. I'm very proud and happy to be their mother."

Nguyen Van Trung, the director of the orphanage, reports that Pax got an early start to his big day. "This morning, he woke up at 6, just like all the children. He put on new clothes, and he was very excited."

But the trip wasn't free of turmoil. Trevor Neilson, Jolie's international affairs adviser, said Jolie complained of paparazzi swarming their van. Pax has been described by Vietnamese adoption officials as a little bit shy.

"Photographs and press coverage will make him upset," Jolie told the Ho Chi Minh City Law . "I'm very worried about that. I would like to say I'm sorry for bringing this into Pax's life."

Jolie's new addition opens up another option for expecting parents looking for a name. Today's young parents are "much more likely to name their children after a celebrity's child, and not after a celebrity," says Linda Rosenkrantz, co-author of The Baby Name Bible. "Just a couple of generations ago, there was no interest in knowing the names of stars' children or following celebrity pregnancies."

Rosenkrantz says it looks as if Jolie and Pitt have some clear patterns forming in the names they choose for their children.

Jolie has said that the couple would like to balance the races their family with two Asian children and two African children. "They seem to be going in an all-embracing way in terms of gender, meaning and balance," she says. The couple have chosen several unisex names for their children, and they have also moved toward recognizing their children's heritage or heroes with middle names.

A look at the meanings behind the names in the Jolie-Pitt clan:

•Pax Thien, 3: The Vietnamese boy's name was changed Thursday from Pham Quang Sang, and his new name means "peaceful sky" in two languages. Pax means "peace" in Latin; Thien is Vietnamese for "sky." Rosenkrantz says Pax is a rarely used moniker, though its Spanish version (Paz) is much more common. The boy was born in November 2003 and was abandoned as an infant.

•Maddox Chivan, 5: Jolie was married to Billy Bob Thornton in 2002 when she adopted her first child, a Cambodian-born son named Rath Vibol. Maddox is a Celtic or Welsh name meaning "beneficent," but Chivan has no origin, says Rosenkrantz. "It's a name that certainly has not been used in the last century." Pitt formally adopted Mad (that's what they call him) in 2006.

•Zahara Marley, 2: Born Tena Adam, Zahara means "flower" in Swahili and "to shine" in Hebrew. Marley comes from reggae singer Bob Marley, a name Rosenkrantz says is popular for both boys and girls. Zahara was adopted in Ethiopia in 2005 after she was orphaned by AIDS, and the couple refer to her as "Z." Pitt was with Jolie when she signed the adoption papers, and he formally adopted Zahara last year.

•Shiloh Nouvel, 10 months: Jolie gave birth to the couple's youngest daughter in the African country of Namibia. Of Hebrew origin, Shiloh means "peaceful one," and Rosenkrantz says it is a name that's catching on for both sexes. The middle name is a homage to Jean Nouvel, a famous French architect who is among Pitt's favorites.

First Picture of Angelina Jolie's Vietnamese Son

MOVIE star Angelina Jolie adopted her fourth child today, a Vietnamese boy from a Ho Chi Minh City orphanage.
Government officials said the boy was renamed Pax Thien Jolie and is almost three-and-a-half years old.

The adoption will be final once US embassy officials in Hanoi approve the paperwork. Jolie and Vietnamese officials have already signed adoption documents in Ho Chi Minh City.

"Everything went really well. It was a successful event this morning," said Nguyen Van Trung, director of the Tam Binh orphanage in the city, the communist-run Southeast Asian country's largest urban area with 8 million people.

"All she needs to do now is to travel to Hanoi to get the travel paperwork from the US embassy for the boy."

Senior officials said Jolie's adoption had been speeded up, partly due to her celebrity status.

The child had been registered as Pham Quang Sang at the orphanage. Trung said the boy had been abandoned at birth at a local hospital and has been at the orphanage since 2003.

Jolie took the boy with her to the Justice Department building in the city centre to sign the adoption documents. Her car left half an hour later.

"She was very beautiful. She signed and had her photo taken," department official Dao Van Tran said outside the building.

Jolie has two adoptive children and a biological daughter with partner Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt.

She flew into the southern Vietnamese city on yesterday night from Japan on a chartered plane. Her son Maddox and daughters Zahara and Shiloh Nouvel accompanied her.

Jolie, 31, filed adoption papers in early March through an unidentified American agency without Pitt because under Vietnamese law, an unmarried couple may not adopt a child. Single people may adopt children under the law.

In Vietnam, adoptions have been known to take as little as one month if background checks and issues of whether the adopting family can support a child are quickly resolved.

However, the process can take six months or longer in some cases.

Jolie and Pitt visited Ho Chi Minh City last November and met children at the orphanage.

The couple say they have no plans to marry but are committed to raising their children together. Their biological daughter, Shiloh Nouvel, was born last year.

Jolie adopted Maddox from Cambodia and Zahara from Ethiopia before her relationship with Pitt, who has now become their adoptive father.

The couple starred in the 2005 movie "Mr & Mrs Smith". They are also working together on the film "A Mighty Heart" about the killing of a US journalist by Pakistani militants.

Jolie won an Oscar in 1999 for best supporting actress in "Girl, Interrupted". She starred in the 2001 movie "Tomb Raider" which was filmed in Cambodia.