Ryan Reynolds Addresses Whether His and Blake Lively’s Fourth Child Is Namechecked on Friend Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’
Swift has a habit of name-dropping Reynolds and Lively’s kids in her songs—and the couple still haven’t confirmed the name or the gender of baby No. 4.


Last year, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds welcomed their fourth child, but have yet to publicly share either the name or the gender of the youngest of their brood.
Last month, Lively’s close friend Taylor Swift released her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. Now, Swift has a tradition, if you will, or a penchant for including the names of Lively and Reynolds’ three older children Betty, James, and Inez in her songs—Swift’s 2020 song “Betty” from her Folklore record is pretty straightforward (though only one of the girls’ names makes the title of the song, all three girls are mentioned in the lyrics), and James is namechecked in Swift’s song “Gorgeous,” off of 2017’s Reputation. Swift is known for dropping Easter eggs into her lyrics—so could the name of the Lively/Reynolds baby No. 4 have ended up on The Tortured Poets Department as one of the many names mentioned?
Lively and Reynolds still haven't disclosed the name or the gender of their fourth child.
The Today Show decided to go to one of the primary sources this morning, asking Reynolds whether his new baby’s name made it to TTPD: “Taylor Swift keeps dropping it into lyrics, so just tell us this—is the fourth child’s name, the baby’s name, anywhere on the new record?” co-host Savannah Guthrie asked Reynolds, who was on the show promoting his new movie IF. “She’s been wondering if we’re going to have to wait for another song,” co-host Hoda Kotb chimed in.
Reynolds, jokingly dodging the question, responded “We always wait for Taylor to tell us what the child’s name will be.” He continued “We’ll say this. We’re still waiting—so, Taylor, let’s maybe start. You know, [she’s a] prolific writer. I mean, what are we doing here? And lazy’s not a word I’d attach to Taylor.”
Lively and Taylor are very close friends.
Lively and Reynolds kept the three older daughters’ “Betty” namecheck a secret from them until the song was finished, Reynolds said in a SiriusXM Town Hall interview in August 2021. “We surprised them with it,” he said, per People. “They didn’t know. They had no idea.” He went on to joke, “We don’t tell them anything. We find they’re most compliant if you offer them no access to outside information.”
Lively and Reynolds with two of their kids in December 2016.
The couple's brood has doubled in size since Reynolds' Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony.
In 2022, Swifties thought she might have hinted at the new baby’s name in her song “You’re on Your Own, Kid,” which was released shortly after Lively announced her pregnancy—and features the name Daisy May (or Mae, we’re not totally sure). What we do know? That the baby was born in February 2023, and that Lively and Reynolds (and their circle of friends) are really good at remaining tight-lipped.
Lively was exuberant as she watched Travis Kelce's Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl, alongside BFF Swift.
Later on in his Today interview, Reynolds dished on how he took care of the kids while Lively famously attended the Super Bowl with Swift in Las Vegas: “I took them all to the park, told them Mommy left when they were young,” he joked, adding that they had a “good time” together. “No one died, which was nice, and four kids, it’s just a zoo,” he said. “Like, you just surrender, right?”
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Reynolds being photographed by Lively in March 2023, just one month after the birth of their fourth child.
The couple have been married since 2012.
Reynolds joked about the struggles of being a dad of four, telling Guthrie and Kotb “When we had our fourth, I was so happy because I always wanted to make sure that we had someone on hand to give me strep throat, and now we’re covered,” he said. “There’s just never a full, clean slate of health, ever.”
Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.
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