A MUM let her five-year-old son name her newborn baby — and he came up with “baby Jesus”.
Lois Meads, 41, liked the idea — and used the Welsh spelling to call the new arrival Iesu.
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She and partner Rhisiart Griffith, 36, also settled on the middle name Maahes — after the Greek god of war.
The couple love their choices — and older brother’s Drago’s involvement in naming him.
But they are aware it raises a few eyebrows in their home town in Denbighshire — where Welsh is widely spoken.
Lois said: “Everyone is quite shocked by his name to start with.
“I see them process and then say, ‘I have never heard that’.”
Lois, a freelance photographer, and artist Rhisiart were keen to involve Drago, then five, in choosing his little brother’s name when he was born two years ago.
Lois said: “I was speaking to Drago and said, ‘What should we call the baby?’.
“He said, ‘I think we should call him baby Jesus’. I was, like, ‘Hmm’. But we wanted him to feel included.
“In Welsh it is Iesu. I have never heard anybody called it. Everyone thought we were insane.
“Rhisiart really liked it straight away. He likes shocking people.”
Their families were surprised by their choice — but could not have been happier when Iesu was born on March 9, 2022.
Lois, who says there are plenty of other unusual names in her family, picked his middle name in a nod to her love of Greek gods.
She said: “He’s such a character. I couldn’t imagine him with anything else.”
The couple say it will be interesting when Iesu hears Welsh-speaking people using his name to swear.
Lois said: “People say ‘Iesu’ — like ‘Jesus Christ’.
“Rhisiart would say it if he stubs his toe.”
Figures suggest just a handful of babies in the UK are named Jesus each year.
But it is common in Spanish-speaking countries and widespread in the US.
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