Discharged from hospital with her three-day-old daughter in her arms, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced her baby name is Neve Te Aroha – a name in the Maori Aboriginal language.
Arriving at the Auckland City Hospital with her three-day-old daughter, Ardern thanked everyone for the support and congratulations.
“We just want to thank everyone and we are all really doing well,” said Ardern, speaking to the media today.
Ms Ardern (37) became the youngest prime minister in New Zealand to take office last year. She was also the first woman in New Zealand history to have a baby while in office.
On June 20, Prime Minister Ardern gave birth to a 3.31 kg baby girl at Auckland Hospital in the presence of his husband, Clarke Gayford.
Reuters news agency said the wife and her husband named the baby Neve. Ardern explains that Neve means “shine and glitter” and “snow” because she gave birth to Neve in the middle of the winter.
The baby’s name is Te Aroha. In Maori, one of the languages of New Zealand, Te Aroha means “love”. In addition, Prime Minister Ardern thank the people in the Maori community, they have proposed the names for her baby when she was pregnant.
“Te Aroha’ was our way of reflecting the amount of love this baby has been shown even before she arrived,” Ardern said.
The nation with 4.5 million people in recent days has been eagerly awaiting Neve’s name. She also added.
“It’s just something really lovely in a world where so much is unfair that we’re all very excited about it,” said music teacher Frances Gerbic.
Many of the leaders of the world have congratulated Ardern including the British Queen Elizabeth and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Mrs Ardern will have a six-week break and look after Neve before returning to work. During this time Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters will temporarily replace her.