FANS have speculated that Cheryl and Liam Payne will call their newborn son Alfie or Taylor.
The former X Factor judge and Girls Aloud star announced with an Instagram post on Saturday evening that she and the One Direction singer had become parents on Wednesday.
She shared a picture of Payne cradling their baby and revealed that he does not yet have a name.
Within hours of the revelation, fans of Cheryl (33), and Payne (23), took to Twitter to ruminate over the infant's possible moniker, with many citing a previous interview she had given in which she said she liked the name Alfie.
One fan wrote: "I wonder if @CherylOfficial & @LiamPayne will name their Son Alfie as Cheryl has said previously she likes the name #CherylAndLiam."
"I heard Cheryl likes the name Alfie ... Imagine Alfie Payne ... I kinda like it tbh," another added, while several others agreed.
In an interview with GQ in 2012, Cheryl said: "I'd love kids. I'm obsessed with babies. Of course I've thought about baby names. A million times. I like Alfie for a little boy. I know that's what I was put on the earth to do. To be a mother."
Another name doing the rounds on social media was Taylor, a name that Payne once declared a fondness for.
One keen One Direction fan joked that the "fandom" had already declared the baby's name as Taylor, writing: "Liam and cheryl: *thinking for the baby's name*. Fandom: WELCOME TO THE FANDOM BABY TAYLOR PAYNE. Me: im done with this fandom."
Another wrote: "WAIT is he gonna name the baby "taylor" because he once said he wanted to name his child taylor."
In a previous radio interview, Payne said: "I like the name Taylor. Taylor's pretty neutral for a boy or a girl.
"That's what I'm going to call my first child if I had children."
New mother Cheryl – who had largely kept her pregnancy private – wrote that her son is "already stealing hearts" as she shared her news online.
She said: "We are all madly in love and overwhelmingly happy with our little arrival."
Payne wrote in a separate post that he was "speechless" and "completely in awe" of Cheryl.
He added: "She's really made my dreams come true."
Cheryl and Payne have been an item for over a year, and they first met in 2008 when he auditioned on The X Factor, on which she was a judge.
Cheryl has been married twice, to footballer Ashley Cole and restaurateur Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini, and now goes by the mononym Cheryl.
Bookmakers have released new odds on a number of names following the birth of Cheryl and Payne's son.
While Alfie is still a popular choice for the couple's new addition, Simon is also a frontrunner, according to William Hill and Coral, thanks to the couple's friend and colleague X Factor boss Simon Cowell.
Coral has priced Simon as the favourite in the betting stakes with 10-1 odds, while Liam and Will have been placed at 12-1.
David Stevens, of Coral, said: "Now that Cheryl and Liam have welcomed a baby boy, we've launched betting on the name of the pop star couple's little one and Simon has emerged as the favourite, after the pop svengali."
William Hill cites Alfie as the top choice with odds of 4-1, with Simon in fourth place at 14-1.
William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said: "In previous interviews Cheryl has suggested that Alfie is her favourite name, but with their joint connection to Simon Cowell there has to be a great chance they will go with that."
The bookmaker's other top names are Harry at 10-1 and Rickie at 12-1.
Both Coral and William Hill are running competitive odds on names including James, Harry, Henry and Frank.
