Mark Zuckerberg has long been fascinated with Ancient Rome. Now he has his very own triumvirate.
The Facebook co-founder on Friday announced the birth of his third child, revealing that he and his wife Priscilla Chan have named the baby Aurelia.
Zuckerberg shared the first photo of his newborn in an Instagram post, calling her “such a little blessing.”
The name Aurelia is a reference to the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, and marks the third time in as many tries that Zuckerberg has given one of his daughters a name that calls back to one of the most powerful empires in history.
The 38-year-old’s first daughter is named Maxima, a twist on the Latin name Maximus. His second daughter is named August in reference to the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar, who Zuckerberg has called one of the “most fascinating” figures in history.
The CEO’s obsession with Rome started well before he became a dad for the first time. In a 2018 interview with the New Yorker, Zuckerberg said that he became interested in Ancient Rome while studying Latin in high school.
“You have all these good and bad and complex figures. I think Augustus is one of the most fascinating,” he said at the time. “Basically, through a really harsh approach, he established two hundred years of world peace.”
Indeed, when Zuckerberg and Chan married in 2012, the couple spent their honeymoon in Rome. Zuckerberg joked that the former emperor was a fixture on their trip.
“My wife was making fun of me, saying she thought there were three people on the honeymoon: me, her and Augustus,” he said. “All the photos were different sculptures of Augustus.”
According to data from the Social Security Administration, Aurelia was the 516th most popular baby name for girls in 2021, with 592 babies receiving the name.
DON’T MISS: Want to be smarter and more successful with your money, work & life? Sign up for our new newsletter!
Take this survey and tell us how you want to take your money and career to the next level.
