The name of Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald’s sixth baby is fit for a king.
Duggar, 32, and Seewald, 30, revealed the name that they chose for their newborn son in part four of the 19 Kids and Counting alum’s birth vlog series, shared via YouTube on Monday, August 11.
“Edward Owen,” Seewald told the camera.
Duggar added that their five older children — son Spurgeon, 9, son Henry, 8, daughter Ivy, 5, daughter Fern, 3, and son George, 20 months — are “very excited” because they had been “rooting for Edward.”
Explaining how they landed on the name, Seewald said, “We liked the sound of Edward pretty early on in this pregnancy. We always like historical names too. There’s some historical significance with Edward — Jonathan Edwards, King Edward VI of England. And then his middle name is Owen, which John Owen is one of my favorite theologians.”
Despite having so many reasons to love the name Edward, the couple revealed that they didn’t choose the name right away. In fact, they brought their baby boy home from the hospital without a name.
“They told us we have about six days to let them know the name, then they have to send the paperwork for the birth certificate,” Duggar explained, noting that they couldn’t decide between Owen, Calvin and Edward.
“Ben said we can just try out each one of our top three names for like a day or two and see which one feels the most natural,” she continued.
Seewald later added, “Sometimes you’ve got to see their face and maybe even test some names out for a few days. But we finally made up our mind.”
It’s not the first time that the parents of six have followed this method, as Duggar said in the video that Edward was following in the footsteps of Spurgeon and Henry by receiving his name at 5 days old.
Duggar announced the birth of baby No. 6 via another YouTube video on August 4.
“When baby was born and everything was OK, I just sobbed like a baby. I just cried,” she said. “We both cried. The baby’s crying, I’m crying. It was such a beautiful moment and we’re so thankful.”
Duggar and Seewald welcomed their little one on July 26 after 7.5 hours of labor. She teased that she would reveal the gender and name in her next video.
Seewald began courting Duggar in the fall of 2013, and the pair got engaged 11 months later. They tied the knot in November 2014. The couple went on to welcome Spurgeon in November 2015, followed by Henry in February 2017, Ivy in May 2019, Fern in July 2021 and George in December 2023.
Duggar suffered pregnancy losses in 2020 and 2022. A few months after announcing her pregnancy in March, she opened up to sisters Jinger Duggar and Joy-Anna Duggar about struggling to feel “emotionally invested” this time around.
“I think it’s hard to allow yourself, early on, to feel excited when you see that positive pregnancy test because you feel like you’re bracing yourself. You’re like, ‘This may go how it went last time,’” Jessa said on Jinger and husband Jeremy Vuolo’s “Jinger & Jeremy” podcast in July.
However, Jessa said her miscarriages made her feel “a lot more grateful” for the children she does have.
“I took a lot less for granted,” she explained. “You know, when those pregnancy symptoms of, like, nausea or whatever, like, went past into the second trimester with one of my babies, I was like, ‘This is going on really long.’ But then I thought, ‘But it stopped short with the other baby that I lost. And like, I wouldn’t have it any other way.’ Like, I’m thankful even for, like, hard aspects of pregnancy because your baby’s still there and you’re still pregnant. I feel like it just caused me to be so much more grateful and to cherish life even more.”