Jennifer Gates and her Egyptian husband Nayel Nassar have revealed the name they selected for their daughter.
Gates, the daughter of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda, went to Instagram to unveil the name of their newborn girl, Leila, who was born in February.
She confirmed the pronunciation, writing “pronounced LAY- luh”.
Leila is an Arabic girls’ name that means night or dark, derived from the word layl. Alternative spellings for the name are Lyla or Lailah. Nassar is an Egyptian-American show jumper.
The name is popular in Arabic-speaking countries, in part because of the popularity of epic Arabic poem Majnun wa Leila, which is often described as the Romeo and Juliet of the Arab world.
Gates shared a post on social media to mark Nassar’s first Father’s Day.
“Happy first Father’s Day, @nayelnassar,” Gates wrote. “It’s no surprise to me that you’re the best papa to our sweet girl and have embraced this role so naturally. We love you to infinity and beyond.”
Gates and Nassar announced the birth of their daughter in March after revealing they were expecting a baby in November.
“Sending love from our healthy little family,” the couple wrote in a joint post, which showed them holding the newborn.
The pair married in October 2021 at Gates’s 50-hectare horse farm in North Salem, New York, a day after they reportedly exchanged vows in a small Muslim ceremony.
