Colin Jost Hilariously Revealed How His Mom Tried To Get Him And Scarlett Johansson To Change Their Son's Name After Calling Him Cosmo

"My mom, I would say, was slightly thrown by it and didn't quite understand it."

By
Ben Henry
by Ben Henry

BuzzFeed Staff

For those of you who missed the news, Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost welcomed their first child together earlier this year – a son the couple named Cosmo.

Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic

Colin confirmed Scarlett's pregnancy in August, so it then came as a surprise to just about everybody when it was announced that the Marvel star had given birth the very next day.

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Confirming the news on Instagram, Colin posted a message that read: "Ok ok we had a baby. His name is Cosmo. We love him very much."

Appearing on Late Night With Seth Meyers on Thursday, Colin was asked about how he and Scarlett had come up with the name, and it turns out that it took a minute for some of their family to get on board.

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"My family is very supportive, always," the SNL comedian started. "My mom, I would say, was slightly thrown by it and didn't quite understand it. I don't know if she thought it was kind of like a hippie thing."

NBC

But even though the couple locked the name in place pretty early on – apparently while they were in the hospital – Colin's mom still tried to suggest other names instead.

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"She would call us after three or four days," he explained. "And she'd be like, 'And now, is it final? Like, did you submit the birth certificate?' And we're like, 'Oh, yeah, we did that at the hospital.'"

And that's when the other suggestions came up. Colin went: "She was like 'OK, interesting. Because I was reading that there's also a name Cosimo with an 'I,' so that could also be an option. Maybe Cosimo, that's his real name, but then you can call him still Cosmo.'"

With Cosimo not quite landing, Colin's mom tried Cosmos instead, which... well, even Colin wasn't quite sure how she landed there.

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He recalled: "Then she goes, 'There's a patron saint called Cosmos, so that's another option.' We don't need more worse variants on Cosmo. But thanks, Mom."

Although it took some getting used to, Colin's mom soon came around after she learned of other Cosmos out there by talking to friends in Staten Island.

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"Eventually, she started meeting various members of the Italian community who have a lot of Cosmo relatives," Colin said. "And so then she would call, and she would say, 'I met someone — they said their uncle's name is Cosmo. So it is OK.'"

Both Colin and Scarlett have remained relatively quiet since welcoming Cosmo in August, although this doesn't come as a surprise considering they're a largely private couple.

David Crotty / Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

However, it was good news for Scarlett this week as it was announced on Thursday that the Black Widow actor had reached a deal with Disney following a dispute over an alleged breach in contract concerning the release of the movie.

Marvel

Scarlett filed a lawsuit against Disney after the studio released Black Widow on its streaming service on the same day it premiered in theatres, with a source claiming that the move had cost the 36-year-old an estimated $50 million.

"I am happy to have resolved our differences with Disney," Scarlett said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. "I'm incredibly proud of the work we've done together over the years and have greatly enjoyed my creative relationship with the team."

Disney Studios Content Chair Alan Bergman echoed the statement, adding that the studio was looking forward to working with Scarlett "on a number of upcoming projects, including Disney's Tower of Terror."

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