Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Deschanel

New Girl’s Zooey Deschanel recently discussed her experiences as a new mother on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and the conversation soon turned to her daughter’s unusual middle name.

The actress and director welcomed her first daughter with her husband Jacob Pechenik back in July of 2015. Many of her fans were surprised by the baby’s unique name: Elsie Otter Pechenik.

Deschanel told Ellen that she and Pechenik chose a more “wild” middle name since the first name Elsie seemed so classic.  She continued, “We both found that we had a mutual love for otters…There were some more normal middle names…then I realized that nobody else likely had the middle name ‘Otter.'”