Introducing baby Bear: The meaning behind Cheryl and Liam's unusual name choice

Cheryl and Liam Payne welcomed a bouncing boy on March 22, and since then the world has been waiting with baited breath to find out the baby’s name.

But we need wait no more as the new parents have reportedly decided to call their baby son Bear. Aww.

According to friends the couple decided their little one suited his moniker a few days after his arrival into the world.

“Cheryl and Liam wanted to get to know their baby before deciding on a name,” a source was quoted as saying.

“They spent over a week getting to know him first before deciding so they got to know him first.

“They didn’t have the name Bear before the birth. But they’d been thinking of a name since meeting him and they just felt it suited him.”

The source went onto say the couple are: “truly over the moon and loving being parents for the first time together”.

Cheryl and Liam aren’t the only celebrity parents to have picked the unusual moniker for their offspring. In fact the name has become quite popular in celebdom of late. Perhaps the couple was inspired by British adventurer Bear Grylls? Or celebrity chef Jamie Oliver who chose the moniker as the middle name for his first son Buddy? More recently Alicia Silverstone chose the cute name for her son Bear Blu and Kate Winslet also opted to give the moniker to her youngest son Bear Blaze.

Speaking to Ellen DeGeneres back in 2014 the actress explained how she settled on the unusual name.

“A friend of mine when I was younger was nicknamed Bear and I just had always really loved it,” she said.

“And he was very much a bear. He was everyone’s shoulder to cry on – he was a big bear hug. He was a great figure in my life and I just had always remembered him and so that’s where it came from.”

According to Nameberry the name Bear has become part of a recent trend of normalising animalistic names like Wolf and Fox. Bear is now number 218 on Nameberry and in the Top 900 names in England.

Names.org says the name Bear is American in origin and it means “Bear-like”.

The Sun says that baby Bear will be taking his father’s surname Payne, and while many have been taking to social media to praise the cute name, others haven’t been able to resist a mild bit of baby name banter.

“I’d have called him Inalotta…‪#bearpayne” one man joked.

“#BearPayne‪ Should have been called Noah because everyone knows Noah Payne Noah gain,” added another.

Joshing aside, just imagine the cuteness when they dress the baby in a little bear outfit? Oh the photo opportunities!

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