Pete Davidson Named His Daughter After the Father He Lost on 9/11: Here's Why

Pete Davidson was 7 years old when his father, Scott Davidson, a New York City firefighter with Ladder Company 118 in Brooklyn Heights, ran toward the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, and never came home. He was 33.

Twenty-five years later, Davidson is 32 - closing in on the exact age his father was when he died - and says that alone has changed how he carries the anniversary. "I thought, 'Oh, he was an old guy,'" Davidson told the New York Post. "But now I'm there, and I have a kid, and that would be like my kid not having her dad."

That kid is Scottie, born in December to Davidson and Elsie Hewitt, named in honor of the grandfather she'll never meet. Davidson has said becoming a father was a lifelong dream, one shaped by wanting to give his daughter the childhood he lost.

He says he still feels his father's presence around her. Since Scottie was born, a photo of Scott has hung near her bath - and even after Davidson moved the picture to a new room, he says she still turns to find it.

This year, Davidson plans to spend September 11 with his daughter, calling the day "extra tough, but also extra beautiful," and describing it as an opportunity for healing.

Scott Davidson was one of five firefighters from Ladder 118 who responded that morning and did not return. He's remembered by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation as a man for whom firefighting was "the greatest job in America" - a calling he'd wanted since he was a boy.