Kelly Ripa Reveals The Meanings Behind Her Children's Names

Kelly Ripa may have all adult children, but she manages to maintain a youthful glow. A recent photo she posted on Instagram had the internet talking when people insisted she used a filter because she just looked that young (via People). 

Yet, at 51, her oldest son is currently 24 years old, as of this writing. Husband Mark Consuelos appears to have had his own dip in the fountain of youth, and Ripa seems to enjoy documenting his good looks through photos (via SheKnows). Nevertheless, it's evident that both Ripa and Consuelos make it work when it comes to marriage and family.

Longtime fans of "Live With Kelly and Ryan" are accustomed to Ripa discussing her family on a regular basis. After all, she was pregnant with two out of her three children while hosting the talk show with Regis Philbin. (It was then called "Live! With Regis and Kelly.") 

When she began the show in 2000, she was already mom to Michael, born in 1997, and she was actually pregnant with daughter Lola, who was born in 2001. Her youngest son, Joaquin, was born in 2003 (via Us Weekly).

Fans have listened to Kelly Ripa's daily escapades in young motherhood as she chronicled her pregnancies for years. 

Back in 2007, she told Good Housekeeping, "We have guests who have only seen me pregnant," explaining how she always seemed pregnant in the show's early days. "They came on when I first got here, and I was pregnant. They come back on, and I'm still pregnant. They must think I have the gestational period of an elephant!"

Though Michael, Lola, and Joaquin are all adults now, Ripa recently recalled how she and husband Mark Consuelos chose names for their children.

The "Live With Kelly and Ryan" host recently revealed on the show that, when it came to naming their older son, Michael was not supposed to be his name (via Hello!). Originally, she and Consuelos had agreed to name their firstborn son Joaquin.

"Michael was supposed to be named Joaquin. But right before he was born, and I mean right before, both of Marks' grandfathers passed away," explained Ripa. "We lost them before they got a chance to meet Michael. We named Michael after both of his grandfathers."

Lola Consuelos has become known as the daughter who is continually embarrassed by her celebrity parents (via Elle). Over the years, some might agree that Kelly Ripa has commented on her daughter a little too much and shared some cringy stories. 

For example, Ripa told viewers how Lola walked into her parents' bedroom at a most inopportune time on her 18th birthday. Ripa told the story when her husband, Mark Consuelos, guest hosted, jokingly sharing that Lola shut the door and said (via YouTube), "You just ruined my birthday and my life. I used to see in color and now everything is gray!"

The story of how Lola was named is equally intriguing, though much less cringy. Ripa says that she and Consuelos were in a taxi while she was in labor and they were driving to the hospital (via YouTube). Barry Manilow's "Copacabana" came on the radio, and they heard him sing the line, "Her name was Lola." 

The couple decided then and there that, if the baby were a girl, her name would be Lola.

As the youngest of the family, when Joaquin left home for college, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos became empty nesters. According to ET, dropping off her son for college was "actually brutally painful" for Ripa. 

"I gave him a hug and I said, 'I did not realize that 18 years would go so fast.' And he didn't say anything. He was just giving me a hug," Ripa explained. "He turned to walk away and I said, 'Wait, Joaquin, one more!' And he kept walking. And I knew that it was happening to him too, the emotion."

As the last baby to arrive, the couple didn't even have a name for him picked out, though they did remember that Joaquin was originally set for older brother Michael. After they found out the new baby would be a boy, Ripa related on the show that Consuelos immediately said (via YouTube), "Now batting ... batting... batting... Joaquin... quin...quin ... Consuelos ...suelos ... suelos." 

In typical Ripa fashion, the mom of three finished the story with, "Ryan, ask me how many baseball games Joaquin's played in." After Ryan complied, Ripa blurted out, "Zero, zero baseball games."