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Colin Jost's mom 'didn't quite understand' naming his son Cosmo

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 10/1/21

Colin Jost's mother obviously loves her grandson, but it took her some time to understand why his name is Cosmo.

"My family is very supportive, always," Jost, 39, explained on Late Night with Seth Meyers when asked how his family reacted to the unconventional name. "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."

The Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" anchor continued: "She would call us and say—you know, like, after three or four days, she'd be like, 'Cosmo.' 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 she's like, 'Oh, OK, interesting because I was reading that there's also a name Cosimo, with an 'i.' So, that could also be an option.'"

Jost then explained that because his mother lives on Staten Island, she met "various members of the Italian community" who have relatives named Cosmo, which helped her come around to the name.

Jost publicly announced Cosmo's birth on Aug. 18, his first child with wife Scarlett Johansson:

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Johansson, 36, also has a seven-year-old daughter named Rose Dorothy, whom she shares with ex-husband Romain Dauriac.

"She, like, shadows me all the time," the two-time Oscar nominated actress said of Rose on The Kelly Clarkson Show in July, "which is wonderful. And I know it's something that I'm sure in a few years, she's not gonna want anything to do with me, and so, I should soak it all up. But there's definitely times where, you know, she's on the other side of the bathroom door, and I'm like, 'Rose! You've gotta give me a minute!'"

Johansson and Jost began dating in 2017 before quietly marrying last October.