Karoline Leavitt's Baby Name Revealed by White House Correspondents' Dinner Mentalist Performer
A lot can change in a few short days. On Friday, April 24, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced her maternity leave, writing on Instagram, "Be back soon!" Little did the 39-weeks pregnant mother-to-be know that "soon" would mean the next day. But following a terrifying turn of events at the 2026 White House Correspondents' Dinner, Leavitt is back in front of the press corps.
While she conducted a briefing on Monday, April 27, following the third assassination attempt on President Donald Trump's life, it doesn't seem like Leavitt has much time left to continue working. With her baby due any day now, the Press Secretary is getting down to the wire. But it looks like choosing a name isn't one thing on her to-do list. At least, according to mentalist Oz Pearlman.
The performer was delighting guests at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night before chaos broke out. He later told ABC News'Jonathan Karl that, prior to suspect Cole Tomas Allen breaking through a security checkpoint and allegedly attempting to assassinate key members of the administration, he (meaning Pearlman) was entertaining Leavitt with a pretty genius trick. Pearlman explained that the Press Secretary said, "I'm having a baby next week…can you guess what I named my daughter?"
Pearlman then recounts how he went "letter by letter" until he wrote down the name. He asked if his guess was correct, and, according to Pearlman's account of the evening, the First Lady, Melania Trump, gasped and said, "Is that the name?" Before he could answer, the Trumps and other high-ranking personnel were whisked away by the Secret Service.
. @OzTheMentalist reveals the trick he had just performed on Karoline Leavitt when the shooting happened last night at the White House correspondents' dinner.
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) April 26, 2026
He figured out the name of @PressSec ‘s soon to be born child pic.twitter.com/ejxU1E01Jg
Now that everyone is safe and the suspected gunman is in custody, Pearlman is ready to dish on Leavitt's baby's name. And, as Karl points out, he's not spilling a major secret. The journalist notes that Karoline has given them permission to share the name Pearlman wrote down.
So what moniker did the mentalist guess? Pearlman reveals the answer, saying, "I believe the name is Vivian. So yeah, that's what I guessed."
Of course, we'll have to wait for confirmation from Leavitt after she gives birth. But if he's right, baby girl, "Vivian" Riccio (the father is Leavitt's husband of just over one year, Nicholas Riccio) will soon join her big brother Niko (born in 2024) as part of their family.
Pearlman also recently issued a statement via his Instagram page about the events of the evening, thanking his fans for checking on him and writing, "Was in the middle of performing for the President and First Lady when I looked up to see a commotion, thought it was a bomb about to go off or shots fired. We hit the deck fast and Secret Service acted decisively and professionally to protect us all."
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This story was originally published April 27, 2026 at 9:32 PM.