Thomas Rhett Explains the Meaning Behind His Daughters’ Names

One of the biggest struggles Thomas Rhett and his wife, Lauren, faced as new parents was choosing the right names for their daughters.

When they adopted little Willa from Africa, they decided to go down the family route for choosing a name. Honoring Rhett’s maternal grandfather and the deeper understanding of his name, the country singer decided it was a perfect match for what their adoptive daughter endured throughout her time in Africa and the process of bringing her to her new home.

“Willa came from my mom’s dad, his name is Willard, which translated means innately brave,” Rhett explained. “And so we felt like Willa was a beautiful girl name and also I think we thought it represented kind of her story, like you have to be strong to survive what she went through. And then Gray is short for Lauren’s brother Grayson and we really love Grayson’s personality and we love him so much. We just thought Willa and Gray really nice together.”

For their biological daughter though, Rhett and Lauren didn’t really have a ton of ideas from the get-go. It took a lot of conversations and negotiations to get down to their favorites, but it was a name Lauren heard in one of her dreams that pinpointed exactly what they wanted to call their newborn.

“We’re a huge double name family if you haven’t known. Ada James, James comes from my uncle, my dad’s brother his name is James Elias. So James is her middle name and Ada, Lauren said that she had a dream and she kept hearing the name Ada in the dream. And that is why we went with Ada. Pretty random, but really cool,” he said recently.

Balancing his daddy duties on top of touring, Rhett keeps trucking along on the weekends to perform in cities all across the country. Whenever he gets a free moment though, he’s back at home with the kids and helping out his lovely lady in whichever ways he can.

Rhett is anticipating the release of his upcoming album, Life Changes, which will hit shelves on September 8.