Is Karoline Leavitt's Baby Named Vivian or Viviana? How a Name Reveal by Mentalist Oz Pearlman Got All Mixed Up (Exclusive)

Brooke MigdonThu, May 7, 2026 at 10:17 PM UTC

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Viviana and Karoline Leavitt (left); Karoline Leavitt and Oz Pearlman at the White House Correspondents Dinner (right)
Credit: Karoline Leavitt/Instagram; ABC News -

Mentalist Oz Pearlman says he correctly guessed the name of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt's daughter after previously revealing the incorrect name

Leavitt welcomed a baby girl, Viviana, on May 1, announcing her birth in an Instagram post on Thursday, May 7

Pearlman tells PEOPLE that he wrote the name "Viviana" on a scrap of paper for Leavitt, but pronounced it as "Vivian" on camera in a later interview when he announced the name

Mentalist Oz Pearlman is clarifying why the name he revealed for Karoline Leavitt's new baby was seemingly off by a letter.

Leavitt announced the birth of her second child, a girl, on Instagram on Thursday, May 7. “On May 1st, Viviana aka ‘Vivi' joined our family, and our hearts instantly exploded with love. 💕,” she captioned the post, a photo of herself and the newborn at home in Washington.

Leavitt, 28, made history as the first pregnant White House press secretary when she announced her pregnancy in December. Her first child, Niko, whom she shares with husband Nicholas Riccio, 60, was born in 2024.

Pearlman tells PEOPLE that he correctly guessed the name of Leavitt's daughter while performing at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington on April 25, shortly before a gunman rushed security, and President Donald Trump, and other administration officials in attendance — including Leavitt — were escorted from the room.

Pearlman was guessing the name Leavitt chose for her daughter “letter by letter” when gunshots rang out, the mentalist explained to ABC News' Jonathan Karl on the day after the dinner. He wrote the name on a scrap of paper, he said, and Leavitt confirmed his guess was correct.

However, when Pearlman revealed the name, with Leavitt's permission, to Karl, he said Leavitt planned to name her baby “Vivian,” not “Viviana.” The mentalist tells PEOPLE that the mix-up was an issue of pronunciation, not inaccuracy.

Oz Pearlman (left); Karoline Leavitt (right)
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty; Paul Morigi/Getty

“In a weird twist, if you watch the video — I mean, obviously it was a crazy moment — but I actually wrote Viviana,” he says. “I don't know it was pronounced because, in an even weirder twist, I have a daughter named Vivian, also.”

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“So, the name I write, if you freeze frame it, it's actually spelled V-I-V-I-A-N-A. I just didn't know how that was pronounced,” he adds. “We never had a chance to discuss, because obviously that's when all hell broke loose in the room, and I never got to see her again that night.”

“I would love to find out if she still has the paper,” Pearlman says.

Pearlman said he had heard a “commotion” during a “pivotal” moment in his trick while recalling the evening in a CNN interview. The performer initially thought there may have been a medical emergency, and later feared a bomb had been planted in the room amid the chaos and confusion, he said.

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“Oh no, are we about to die?” Pearlman recalled thinking.

He tells PEOPLE he hopes the event is rescheduled. “I think the press deserves it,” he says.

White House Correspondents' Association President Weijia Jiang told the organization's members on Friday that its board is “working through options” for a “rescheduled event.”

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”