London - Giving your children bizarre names has become a showbusiness trend. But George Clooney claims he and his wife Amal, 39, chose to give their children traditional names to avoid the "ridiculous" Hollywood fashion.
The 56-year-old actor, whose twins Alexander and Ella were born in June, said he was concerned about how they would cope with living in the spotlight so wanted to give them a taste of normality.
"We didn’t want to give them one of those ridiculous Hollywood names that don’t mean anything," he told Paris Match. "We figured these kids are going to be looked at a lot and have their every move sort of judged, and we wanted them to at least have a break with the names."
The decision contrasts with the likes of Beyonce and Jay-Z, who called their twins Rumi and Sir.
Clooney told Entertainment Tonight he gets up every three hours to help Amal as she breastfeeds the twins, adding: "It’s a lot of work but it’s fun man!"