Jenna Bush Hager says her sister, Barbara Bush, had a tough time sharing her name with such a famous person while growing up.
Their late grandmother, of course, was former first lady Barbara Bush, who was married to their grandfather, former President George H.W. Bush, who served in that capacity from 1989 until 1993.
“My sister is named Barbara Bush,” Jenna told guest co-host Jay Ellis April 9 on TODAY with Jenna & Friends, as they discussed namesakes.
“Oh, what a tough one,” Ellis said.
“Right? In the ‘90s. In Texas,” Jenna continued.
Jenna explained the name led to trouble for her sister.
“She would call and she had a little sweet voice, too, and she’d call Domino’s to order pizza, and they would think that she was pranking,” Jenna recalled.
“She’d be like, ‘My name is Barbara Bush,’ and they’d be like, ‘What? You liar.’ Hang up.”
Jenna said the name wreaked havoc in school, too, before she eventually learned to appreciate the name when their grandmother died in 2018.
“So she was always a little embarrassed,” Jenna said. “Imagine going to a big public high school, and they’d be like, ‘Barbara Bush!’ They’d be like, ‘Yo, Barbara Bush.’ And everybody laughed. And so she was embarrassed. And then when my grandmother passed away, she had a very similar realization. She was like, ‘I’m proud.’”
Barbara Bush (Jenna's sister, not her grandmother) previously said on TODAY that their shared name led to some funny mix-ups.
“Our cousin Wendy wrote me an email,” Barbara recalled on TODAY. “The subject line was ‘laser hair removal or electrolysis?’ And she wrote, ‘Yo, what’s up? I’m thinking about getting laser hair removal or electrolysis on my bikini line. Do you have any recommendations?’
“And then she pressed ‘send,’ and it auto-filled Ganny’s email address and she received the email. She replied right away. She said she had never done either and all she could offer was to avoid harsh products like Nair.”
Barbara has also said the embarrassment she had previously felt — and confusion caused by — sharing her grandmother’s name eventually gave way to a sense of honor after she died.
“When Ganny passed away, the night she passed away, I was laying in bed, and I felt ashamed that I had felt that way, and proud that I had her name,” she said while guest hosting TODAY with Hoda & Jenna in 2023.
