They’ve been able to keep everything about their fourth child a secret. We don’t know the 𝓈ℯ𝓍 of the child or their name. And Ryan and Blake apparently want to keep it that way. They do not refer to the 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢 by pronoun or name in interviews, and jokingly play along with the Swifties out there who think that Taylor named their children and that it’s her responsibility to confirm the name in one of her songs, since all three of the oldest children have already been namechecked in her previous work.
In Touch Weekly however reported that a source has told them what Ryan and Blake call the littlest one:
“The couple call their fourth child Obi. It’s short for a longer name and its origin is incredibly deep and meaningful,” the insider says. “It’s also a nod to one of the characters in Gossip Girl, which of course, Blake starred in.” Otto “Obie” Bergmann IV, played by Eli Brown, is a main character in the 2021 Gossip Girl revival.”
Why would she name her child after a character in the revival when she was in the OG version of the show and would have had no interaction with this new character?! I don’t get In Touch’s logic and I wonder if they’re fumbling around with a tip they got from someone who might have heard about the nickname but doesn’t know anything else. Or all of it is bullsh-t, maybe.
IF, however, Obi is indeed the nickname, or whatever variation the spelling, I mean it’s less Gossip Girl than it is Taylor Swift. Because as Swifties and users on Reddit have pointed out, Obi or Oby could be short for Robyn? Robyn Lively is Blake’s sister. And Taylor has a song called “Robin” on The Tortured Poets Department although it was originally thought that “Robin” was in honour of her collaborator Aaron Dessner’s child. Could be both? Or not at all.
What do you think? Let us know over at The Squawk. (app link here)
And in the meantime, here are Blake and Ryan out for a walk in NYC today.