Kylie Kelce adopted a German Shepherd puppy at the end of March. She named it Bernadette.
She warned everyone when she introduced the dog that Jason would probably change the name. He did. The new name is Matilda. Probably.
That is the full arc of a story that keeps getting better with each update, the latest of which came from a People magazine piece in which Jason revealed the names he had actually been considering, including one that Kylie described with a deadpan expression as a “serious contender.”
“Broomhilda was a serious contender,” Kylie told listeners on the April 2 episode of her Not Gonna Lie podcast. “And I’m not saying that to be funny. Jason deadass thought we were going to name a dog Broomhilda.”
She invited her audience to sit with that information for a moment before adding:
“I want people to remember that the next time they come at me about how we named our four children, because do you see what I’m working with?”
Why Did The Kelces Decided To Get A New Puppy?
The backstory begins with an ongoing negotiation between Kylie and Jason over whether to add a cat to the household, which already includes dogs Patricia, Nessie, and Belaoo, plus four daughters under age seven.
Kylie has wanted a cat for years. Jason has made his position on cats clear, repeatedly and in public, and has apparently gone so far as to scare their daughters about cats to discourage the idea.
The current compromise is described as “maybe in the next couple of years,” with Jason holding out for an outdoor cat and Kylie pushing for something with actual indoor access.
In the meantime, Kylie visited Pennsylvania SPCA’s Main Line Animal Rescue in late February, footage from that visit was held for the March 31 episode of her FAFO digital series on Wave Originals.
She went ostensibly to showcase the rescue’s work. She met kittens, Great Dane puppies, barn cats, and a duckling.
Then she was tipped off about German Shepherd puppies at another location, and she is on record saying she loves German Shepherds, and things proceeded accordingly.
She told her podcast audience beforehand that Jason knew she was going to the rescue.
When she asked him on a scale of one to ten how mad he’d be if she came home with an animal, he said ten. She noted, with evident satisfaction, that he did not specify which side of the scale was pissed.
The deal they reached: Kylie gets to adopt the puppy, Jason gets naming rights.
She named it Bernadette in the episode anyway, describing it as the frontrunner while explicitly predicting Jason would change it. “May I introduce Bernadette Kelce. Until Jason changes her name,” she said.
How Quickly Was The Puppy’s Name Changed?
Two days later on her April 2 podcast episode, the update, “I’m the proud new dog mom to a German Shepherd puppy named not Bernadette. That’s right, I said Jason might change it and he did.”
The new name is Matilda. Tentatively. “We think,” Kylie added, with an energy that suggested this is far from settled.
What was under consideration before Matilda landed: Broomhilda, which Jason “deadass” thought was a real possibility.
Kylie’s reaction to Broomhilda was to invite the public to use it as context for every future conversation about how they named their four daughters Wyatt, Bennett, Elliotte, and Finnley.
The People magazine piece this week added Jason’s side, with him sharing the full list of alternate names he had considered before landing on Matilda.
The process, by every account, was exactly what you would expect from a man whose podcast is called New Heights and who once showed up to a Super Bowl parade in a Mummers costume.
How The Kids Are Taking It
The household reaction to the new puppy breaks down cleanly by age. Bennett (5) and Elliotte (3) are, in Kylie’s words, “thrilled” and “excited.”
Wyatt (6), the oldest, “couldn’t care less.” And Finnley, who turned one in March, “has no f—— clue what’s happening.”
This is a household with four children under seven, three dogs, an ongoing cat negotiation, two active podcast careers, and a retired NFL lineman who wanted to name the newest family member Broomhilda. Matilda is, genuinely, an improvement.
Who Are Kylie and Jason Kelce?
Kylie McDevitt Kelce was born January 29, 1992, in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She played lacrosse at Cabrini University and built a public presence through her Not Gonna Lie podcast, which covers family life, parenting, and whatever is currently happening in the Kelce household.
The FAFO digital series, which produced the puppy adoption episode, is an extension of that content operation on Wave Originals. She is 34 years old.
Jason Kelce was born November 5, 1987, in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He spent his entire NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles, starting at center from 2011 through his retirement in March 2024.
He was selected to seven Pro Bowls, won Super Bowl LII with the Eagles in 2018, and is widely considered one of the greatest centers in NFL history.
He co-hosts New Heights with his brother Travis Kelce, who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs and is in a relationship with Taylor Swift. Jason is 38 years old.
They married in 2014. Their four daughters are Wyatt Elizabeth (b. October 2019), Elliotte Ray (b. 2021), Bennett (b. February 2023), and Finnley Anne, known as Finn, born March 30, 2025.
The puppy is named Matilda. Probably.
