UK

One Direction star Louis Tomlinson posts first picture of baby Freddie

One Direction's Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles who had to reschedule a recent concert in Belfast after Liam became ill
One Direction's Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles who had to reschedule a recent concert in Belfast after Liam became ill One Direction's Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles who had to reschedule a recent concert in Belfast after Liam became ill
By Gail Bell

DESPITE Twitter speculation that One Direction's Louis Tomlinson would choose an Irish name for his first child, the newborn has been named Freddie.

The singer announced the birth of the baby born to former partner Briana Jungwirth on the social media site on Wednesday, later posting a poignant black and white selfie of himself cradling his new son.

Earlier, the name Conchobar was trending on Twitter - leading to fans guessing the new dad would choose an Irish name for the new arrival.

However, the singer confirmed Tomlinson Junior's full name will be Freddie Reign - with the 24 year-old later tweeting the baby would also carry his surname, writing of Twitter: 'Freddie Tommo'.

Announcing the birth, Tomlinson said: "I'm pleased to say my baby son was born yesterday, he is healthy and pretty amazing. I'm very happy."

The British star, who is currently in California spending time with his newborn, added his gratitude to fans for their well wishes, tweeting: 'Thank you so much for the all nice messages".

Traditional names continue to feature high up popular baby name lists with the top three spots in England and Wales last year - as released by the Office for National Statistics - taken by Oliver, Jack and Harry.

But despite moving up three places from the previous year, Freddie came in at number 20 out of the top 100 boys' names compiled by ONS.

In Ireland, the top three names for boys in 2015 were Jack, James and Daniel according to data from data from the Department of Foreign Affairs, with 'Freddie' failing to break into the top 20.

Meanwhile, Irish names remain popular with A-list Hollywood stars, many of whom who have famously opted for Irish monikers for their offspring - most notably actor Alex Baldwin and former wife, actress Kim Basinger, who chose to call their daughter, Ireland.

Actress Mia Farrow named her son Ronan, former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan called two of his sons Sean and Dylan, Kevin Costner had a son, Cayden, and Will and Grace star, Eric McCormack, named his son, Finnigan.