Baby Marvin Eriksen had quite the unique middle name, and in typical How I Met Your Mother fashion, there was an interesting story attached to the choice. Marvin was the first child of Marshall Eriksen and Lily Aldrin. His birth came during the sitcom’s seventh season and became memorable for a number of reasons.
After getting married, Marshall and Lily decided to wait a bit before starting a family. When they felt as though the time was right, Lily had trouble getting pregnant. This led the couple to see a fertility specialist in the memorable episode “Bad News.” In the How I Met Your Mother season 6 episode “Challenge Accepted,” Lily learned that she was finally pregnant. As her due date approached, Marshall started to panic at the notion of becoming a father.
Marshall, of course, ended up being a great father to not only Marvin, but also to his other two children. Baby Marvin was named after Marshall’s late father, but the eldest child had a very clever middle name: Waitforit. The name was at the request by Barney due to his common catchphrase, “legen–wait for it–dary.” It seemed odd that Marshall and Lily would agree to this odd middle name, but they allowed it for a very good reason: If it wasn’t for Barney, Marshall would have missed the birth of his first child.
Marvin’s Middle Name Stemmed From A Trip To Atlantic City
Following the baby shower, Marshall started developing his parental skills in an over-the-top fashion, such as practicing with a watermelon in the season 7 episode “Good Crazy.” Lily thought his behavior was getting out of hand, so she told him they were going to a parenting workshop. In reality, Lily had set up a trip for him and Barney to go to Atlantic City to blow off steam. Barney convinced Marshall to unwind and turn off his phone so the pair could have some fun in the casinos. When Marshall eventually turned his phone back on, he had numerous voicemails revealing that Lily went into labor five weeks early.
The next episode, “The Magician’s Code – Part One,” focused on Marshall and Barney trying to get back to New York City in time. Both men were extremely intoxicated and couldn’t drive, causing panic to set in. Barney promised to get his friend back to witness the birth as long as they use “Wait-for-it” as the middle name. Marshall reluctantly agreed while Barney cooked up a plan. Barney found seats for them on a senior citizen bus going to Buffalo. To divert to New York City, Barney made a speech and convinced a few passengers to fake heart attacks for an emergency stop. Marshall made it to the hospital before the baby arrived and for Barney’s serious efforts, Marvin Waitforit Eriksen was born. With that, a piece of Barney’s most used phrase lived on in How I Met Your Mother.
