Lauren Alaina is opening up about the name of her newborn daughter, Beni Doll, born on June 11 to Alaina and her husband, Cameron Arnold.
“We each picked a name,” the couple explains, in a video shared on social media. “I picked her first name, and she’s named for two people in our family, two people that have passed away. She’s named after my grandfather. It was my mom’s dad, Papa Benny. He helped raise me. He taught me how to play basketball. He bought me my first karaoke machine. If he was alive, he would tell you that he’s the reason I got where I am because he bought me that karaoke machine. He was very proud of that. And I actually saw a girl years ago who was named Beni, and I just jotted it down.”
Alaina goes on to say that Beni wasn’t their first choice, but the name soon rose to the top of their long list.
“We were tossing out different names, and Benny came up and we were trying to figure out how to spell it,” Alaina recalls. ‘Cause traditionally it’s a boy’s name, but we knew we wanted to name her that. And Cameron said, ‘Well, can we do it with an I or something to make it girlier for her?’ And I told him about the girl that I had seen who spelled it B-e-n-i, and he told me he loved that, and I’ll never forget it. We were at dinner and I looked up the spelling B-e-n-i, and in Japanese, Beni means crimson.
“My dad passed away last year,” she continues. “And it’s been really hard for me this whole journey, not having him and having her. My dad was a huge Alabama fan. So, the fact that Beni in Japanese means crimson, I feel like my dad said, ‘Roll Tide’ from heaven and told us how to spell it.”
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Arnold, who chose the middle name, says he chose it for his aunt, Lucy Willard.
“Her name was Lucy Doll Arnold,” he shares. “She was born on our family farm, where my parents live now. It’s like 175-year-old home. Been in the family for over 200 years. She’s just been a big part of our family, and she’s never had kids, so it was just a little nod to keep her name in the family and pass it along.”
Soon after Beni was born, Alaina announced the news, also dropping a new song, “Heaven Sent.”
“The right words are hard to find to describe how parts of my heart that I didn’t even knew existed were unlocked at 8:44 AM when they laid you on my belly for the first time,” Alaina writes. “I will never be the same. You, to your dad and me, are absolute perfection. We are honored God chose us to be your parents. Thank you to everyone for all of the love, prayers and support for our precious daughter.”
Find “Heaven Sent” and all of Alaina’s music and upcoming shows at LaurenAlaina.com.
Photo Credit: Laura Moll