Velvet Celebrity Digest

Fresh star stories with a cool online feel.

The name Vanja is, according to Behind the Name, the Croatian and Serbian form of the name Vanya, which is itself a diminutive form of the Russian name Ivan. The most famous Vanya-with-a-y is probably the Uncle Vanya from the turn-of-the-(last)-century play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov (no relation to Star Trek's Mr. C), while the most famous Vanja-with-a-V is probably the one who just got born. While Vanya is typically a masculine name, it (as well as Vanja) can also be a woman's name, as anyone who's watched The Umbrella Academy will know.

As to whether baby Vanja has a middle name, or his mom's last name of Sevigny is meant to serve as a middle name, Chloe didn't exactly specify, but since she supplied just the three names of Vanja Sevigny Mačković, we'll be assuming the latter unless and until further details are forthcoming. While there should be no trouble whatsoever with the name of Vanya (or Sevigny, for that matter), there may just be one slight complication ahead for this happy little family, at least if New York, like California, frowns upon including "nonstandard characters" on its birth certificates. Nah, this is New York, baby! The biggest melting pot of them all! If they can't handle a few little accent marks, then nobody can.