Rugby union players Kristy Giteau and Soakai Tai recently welcomed their first baby, and have named their daughter Noa Mackenzie. Noa Giteau-Tai’s birth was announced on Twitter.

Kristy works at the Australian Institute of Sport, and plays wing for the Wallaroos, the national women’s rugby union team; her local club is the Tuggeranong Vikings. She is planning to help Australia defend its title at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow next year, and plays an active role in recruiting and scouting for new players – all the more important since rugby will be included at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Kristy is the older sister of rugby union star Matt Giteau, who welcomed a baby son named Levi at the start of this year.

Soakai is originally from Tonga, and plays for the Canberra Royals, winning the MacDougall Medal for Most Oustanding Player last year. He and Kristy met at the gym, and have been together for about a year. The couple are considered opposites, for while outgoing Kristy loves to chat, Soakai is so shy that he is almost silent. Kristy considers him an excellent listener.

Noa is a name that can come from several different origins. It can be a female Hebrew name meaning “movement” (ironically, the exact opposite of the soundalike male Hebrew name Noah, which means “rest, repose”). It’s also a Japanese girl’s name meaning “love, affection”, and a Polynesian (unisex?) name meaning “freedom”. In Tongan, it is the word for the number zero; I presume this is just a coincidence.