Keke Palmer reveals the origins of her son's unusual name
The 31-year-old actress - whose real name is Lauren Keyana - welcomed Leodis into the world with her now ex-partner Darius Jackson in February 2023, and revealed that the former NFL star wanted the moniker to be a combination of both of their names.
Speaking on Scott Evans' House Guest podcast, she said: "Darius actually made his name. He wanted both our names, which is so crazy.
"So yeah, that was him trying to put like Darius and Lauren, like Leodis, like it was just too much, but I said, 'Hey, let's do it. It's adorable."
The former Nickelodeon star joked that "anything went" at that time as far as she was concerned because she was pregnant, and then began to admire how the name started to sound as if it carried some sort of historical prestige.
"I was pregnant, anything went. It's adorable, ... and then also it sounded like an old name.
"He sounded like he was marching with [Martin Luther King Jr.]. It's like Leodis Andrellton Jackson. He's gonna be on somebody's campaign."
Keke split from Darius in October 2023, and she obtained a temporary domestic violence restraining order over the "physical and emotional abuse" that she alleged was inflicted on her, but she recently admitted that she felt "grateful" that the two can just co-parent their son together.
Speaking on 'CBS Mornings', she told host Gayle King: "I gotta be honest, I would've never thought that I would be where I am now, and so I'm very grateful that this has now been the outcome and we've been able to coexist in this way and show up for our son, and just be in a different place. It's a real blessing. "That's the best way that I can explain it."
The Nope actress previously admitted that turning 30 had put her in a "different headspace" and she had found "peace" since becoming a mother.
She told PEOPLE: "I do feel like being 30, it's put me in a different head space that's allowed me to kind of feel more observational about my life.
"I'm not so in the weeds of everything. I'm really trusting and having faith that everything will work out as it should. I think so much of that peace has come from my son."
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