Colin Jost Says His Mom Didn't "Understand" Why He and Scarlett Johansson Named Their Son Cosmo

Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost welcomed son Cosmo in August, and the Saturday Night Live star revealed that it has taken his mom quite some time to get used to the name choice.

By Ryan Gajewski Oct 01, 2021 7:24 AMTags
Watch: Colin Jost Shares His Mom's Reaction to Unique Baby Name

Apparently, not everyone was excited that Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost opted to go with a unique name for the newest member of their family

On Thursday, Sept. 30, Colin was a guest on Late Night, where Seth Meyers asked how the "Weekend Update" host's relatives reacted when learning that he and wife Scarlett's first child, a son they welcomed in August, was named Cosmo. The Black Widow actress also shares daughter Rose, 7, with ex-husband Romain Dauriac.

After prefacing his explanation by saying his family has always been "very supportive," Colin admitted, "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."

He went on to say that, long after the couple had already finalized the name at the hospital, his mom was still trying to figure out ways to get them to change it. 

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Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost's Cutest Pics

"She would call us after three or four days, she'd be like, 'Cosmo,'" Colin recalled. "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.' 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.'"

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After telling Seth that he didn't know why Cosimo would be preferable, Colin said his mom seemed to have come around after she spoke to friends in her Staten Island neighborhood and discovered there are in fact other Cosmos out there. 

"Eventually, she started meeting various members of the Italian community who have a lot of Cosmo relatives," the 39-year-old Saturday Night Live mainstay shared. "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.'"

Then again, it appeared she still wasn't quite done pitching other alternatives. "Then she goes, 'There's a patron saint called Cosmos, so that's another option,'" he said. "We don't need more worse variants on Cosmo. But thanks, Mom."

During the interview, Colin also mentioned that the couple has yet to publicly share a photo of their son. He claimed he would be revealing the first image during the episode, but it ended up being a joke. 

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