Michael Phelps & Wife Nicole Welcome Baby Boy No. 4 — & His Siblings May Not Agree With His Name
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Michael Phelps and Nicole Johnson have a full house! The Olympic gold medalist and his wife welcomed their fourth son earlier this month and just announced the happy news on Instagram. In a joint post, they shared a sweet photo of the shirtless swimmer cradling the newborn and the model leaning on her husband’s shoulder, placing a hand gently on the baby boy.
“[We] wanna welcome Nico Michael Phelps to the world,” they captioned the post. “Born on 1/16. We’re so blessed to be given a 4th child. We’re now a family of 6! 😁😁🤪😂”
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Nico! The name dates back to ancient Greece, coming from the name Nicholas which is based on the mythological goddess of victory, Nike. Victory! How fitting for the Phelps family. Plus it’s just such a sweet tribute to his mom Nicole.
Now the question is if his big brothers — Boomer, 7, Beckett, 5, and Maverick, 4 — are actually going to call him that. Back in November, Nicole revealed that her sons already had a name picked out. And it was nothing like Nico.
“They love the name Drifter,” she said. “The running joke is that the baby’s name is going to be Drifter.”
And for Boomer, Beckett, and Maverick, that might still be the case. Regardless of his name (or what his big brothers may be calling him), people are so happy for the family. Celebrities like Camila McConaughey, Michelle Kwan, and JJ Watt were offering their congratulations in the comments and followers were remarking on what this means for future Olympic Games.
“The Phelps relay is complete!!!”
“Bro gonna watch his sons win gold in all the relays.”
Nicole was incredibly candid about this pregnancy, admitting that it was not planned. She only found out about Nico when she went to the doctor to begin treatment for headaches. When she admitted her period was late, he told her to take a pregnancy test because she couldn’t take this treatment if she was pregnant. “There’s no way,” she thought. After she got the positive result, Michael asked what was wrong, saying she looked like a ghost.
“He was ecstatic,” she said. “Michael has been excited from the start.”
“Listen, I’m a mom and I know how much work that it takes,” she continued, being really vulnerable and honest about why she didn’t have that same instant joy. “I personally believe in pretty much sacrificing two years of my life to this new baby. But we are so excited. I don’t even want to call him a surprise because he is wanted. He’s the bonus we didn’t know we needed.”
Well, that bonus has finally arrived, and we couldn’t be happier for the Phelps fam. One follower summed it up beautifully: “[Michael] managed to win everything on the pool and now he wins it outside it too by having a lovely family of 4 little boys 😍.”
From Kelly to Mackenzie, here are a few gorgeous girl names that were once more common for boys.
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