Colin Jost says his mother was 'thrown' after he and Scarlett Johansson named their son Cosmo

• Colin Jost's mother was confused by his decision to name his son Cosmo.
• On "Seth Meyers," Jost said she called him and Scarlett Johansson to suggest changes to the moniker.
• She came around, Jost added, after meeting Staten Island neighbors that have relatives named Cosmo.

Colin Jost's mother, Kerry Kelly, was perplexed by her son and his wife Scarlett Johansson's decision to name their child Cosmo, the "Saturday Night Live" head writer revealed.

On Thursday's episode of NBC's "Late Night," host Seth Meyers, an "SNL" alum that co-anchored the show's "Weekend Update" segment before Jost took over in 2014, asked his successor how his family reacted to the child's unique moniker.

"My family is very supportive always," Jost began.

He continued, "My mom, I would say, was slightly thrown by it and didn't quite understand it. I don't know if she thought it was kind of like a hippie thing, like a dirty hippie thing."

Jost and Johansson announced their son's arrival (and name) on Instagram in August, months after they got married in a small ceremony in October 2020. Johansson also has a 7-year-old daughter, Rose Dorothy Dauriac, from her previous marriage to French journalist Romain Dauriac.

Kelly called the couple "three or four" days after they brought Cosmo home from the hospital to ask if his name was finalized and to inquire about whether they had submitted his birth certificate, Jost recalled. They responded by telling Kelly that they already registered the document at the hospital.

"She was like, 'Oh OK, interesting because I was reading that there's also a name Cosimo with an 'I,' so that could also be an option. Maybe you call him Cosimo, that's his real name, but then you can call him still Cosmo,'" Jost told Meyers.

After Kelly began discussing her grandson's name with her Staten Island neighbors, she learned that it wasn't as obscure as she thought. Many members of the borough's Italian community have relatives named Cosmo, the comedian said.

"She would call and she would say, 'I met someone. They said their uncle's name is Cosmo, so it is OK,'" Jost said.

Despite the comedian's insistence that his son's name was already "locked in," Kelly tossed in another suggestion, for good measure.

"She goes, 'There's a patron saint called Cosmos, so that's another option,'" Jost said.

He responded: "We don't need more worse variants on Cosmo, but thanks, Mom."