Nick Cannon reveals hidden ‘link’ between his 12 children’s names

Comedian welcomed his 12th child in December

Nick Cannon has spoken candidly about his 12 children and how their names are all connected.

The 42-year-old TV host discussed his large family and how much he loves being a parent during a recent appearance on The Shade Room. Cannon is father of 12 children with multiple women. He welcomed his daughter, Halo Marie, whom he shares with Alyssa Scott, in December - one year after her brother, Zen, died from a rare brain tumour.

Cannon had his son, Legendary, with Bre Tiesi in June 2022 and his daughter, Onyx, with model LaNisha Cole in September. Last November, Abby De La Rosa gave birth to his daughter, Beautiful Zeppelin. This is the pair’s third child, as they also share one-year-old twins, Zion and Zillion.

He welcomed a son, Rise, with Brittany Bell in October. Cannon and the dancer also share a five-year-old son, Golden, and two-year-old daughter, Powerful. In addition, the Wild’N Out host shares his 11-year-old twins, Moroccan and Monroe, with ex-wife Mariah Carey.

During his appearance on The Shade Room, Cannon listed his children’s unique names and how they all came to be. He started off by discussing his first two children with Carey.

“Moroccan and Monroe was real cool ‘cause that’s what Mariah and I came up with and, you know, the Moorish Moroccan vibe was always something we talked about,” he explained. “And then Monroe, Mariah loves Marilyn Monroe. And then we call them Roc and Roe, sounds like Rock n’ Roll, so that was always cool.”

He then spoke about his first two children with Bell, adding : “There was Golden, who really is like the golden child. Kid is a genius. And then, his sister is Powerful, Powerful Queen. So their names kind of go together.”

Cannon also acknowledged that his and Bell’s third child’s name, Rise, “goes together” with the names of his older siblings. He went on to discuss his relationship with De La Rosa and that since her name, Abby, starts with an A, “she wanted to have children with Z names”. And while she opted for Zion and Zillion for her and Cannon’s first two children, she didn’t choose a Z name for their third child.

“We were gonna go with Zeppelin for our daughter, ‘cause it was gonna be all three [Z names], but I was like, ‘She’s so beautiful. That’s her name.’ It was like, Beautiful Zeppelin,” he explained.

He then praised his bond with Tiesi and how the name of their child, Legendary, was inspired by this relationship.

“Bre, the way we are, we are kind of on the same page,” he said. “What we doing is legendary. We got legendary loving. Yea, we call him LL.”

He then spoke about his baby with Cole, and explained how she already picked out the name for their child.

“With LaNisha, who is a strong Black woman and loves her chocolate-ness and all that, she had the name Onyx, And was like, ‘I’m with it, let’s get it!’ And then I threw on the ‘ice cold’ ‘cause her name was cold,” he added, as Ice is their child’s middle name.

Cannon concluded his remarks by detailing how the loss of Zen still “touches his heart”. The comedian also acknowledged how his daughter’s name was inspired by Zen, before expressing that all of these 12 names names are connected.

“His name was so meaningful, and then the fact that he’s no longer physically with us, and then the fact that we get to have a rainbow baby after that that we got a chance to name Halo,” he said. “So it all comes together, it all makes sense.”

Since welcoming his 12th child last year, Cannon has shared his thoughts about expanding his family. After Cannon said that he doesn’t have a set “plan” for how many more children he wants to have, during CNN’s New Year’s Eve Live special, he was asked if he’d ever get a vasectomy.

“Is that what you want me to get?” Cannon jokingly replied. “This is my body, my choice!”

During an interview with Entertainment Tonight in February, he was once again asked if wanted to have more children. In response, The Masked Singer host said: “God decides when we’re done, but I believe I definitely got my hands full. And I’m so focused. I’m locked in. But when I’m 85, you never know. I might.”