Ed Sheeran’s baby name explained as wife Cherry gives birth to Lyra Antarctica

Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry Seaborn have just given welcomed their first child, a baby girl they’ve named Lyra.

He announced the little one’s unusual full name, which is Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran, on Instagram on Tuesday morning.

Her first name appears to be inspired by the main character in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, who is called Lyra Belacqua.

Lyra’s character is adventurous and intelligent but also devious, with her nickname being Silvertongue.

Ed’s fans have guessed that the inspiration must come from the character as the 29-year-old has professed his love for the books in the past.

In 2015 he tweeted: “Bar far, Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials are the best books I’ve ever read.”

He also described the books as the “greatest love story ever told” when he appeared on Desert Island Discs.

And his fans have been taking to Twitter to guess that he was inspired by his favourite books.

One tweeted: “I wonder if Ed Sheeran and his wife were thinking about Philip Pullman’s ‘His Dark Materials’ when naming their daughter? In Northern Lights, Lyra travels to the Arctic, but maybe they just figured ‘Antarctica’ sounds better?”

“I wonder if Ed Sheeran named his daughter after Lyra from the His Dark Materials books,” another posted.

A third joked: “Ed Sheeran has a kid named Lyra exactly 9 months after His Dark Materials premiered on BBC. We know what they were watching when she was conceived.”

Ed announced Lyra’s birth on Instagram, writing: “Ello! A quick message from me as I have some personal news that I wanted to share with you…

“Last week, with the help of an amazing delivery team, Cherry gave birth to our beautiful and healthy daughter – Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran.

“We are completely in love with her. Both mum and baby are doing amazing and we are on cloud nine over here.

“We hope that you can respect our privacy at this time. Lots of love and I’ll see you when it’s time to come back, Ed x.”