blake lively ryan reynolds
Blake Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds share a moment at the screening of the movie "The Captive," which was in competition at the 67th Cannes Film Festival. Reynolds recently appeared on NBC's "Today" show, where he revealed the name he and his wife gave to their first child. Reuters

More than three months after welcoming his first child with wife Blake Lively, actor Ryan Reynolds has confirmed their baby girl's name. After her arrival in December, Reynolds said on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" in February that he and Lively planned to keep their child's name under wraps to avoid thrusting her into the public eye.

Still, Reynolds told host David Letterman he knew it wouldn't be long before word go out. "I just don't want to say it in, like, a media context. I tell everyone who I meet, so it'll come out," he said.

The couple's privacy didn't stop the baby-name rumors from circulating. Initial reports indicated the acting pair had named their child Violet. The 38-year-old film star addressed that rumor, saying it was "a very pretty name, but that's Ben Affleck's daughter's name." It was later believed the couple had named their daughter James, although neither party addressed those stories or any of those that surfaced afterward.

After months of the parents' joking about their child's moniker, with mentions of names such as "Excalibur Anaconda Reynolds" and "Butternut Summer Squash," the secret is now officially out. During an appearance on NBC's "Today" show Friday, Reynolds confirmed he and his wife had, in fact, named their baby James.

"No, it's out there. It's James. Everyone knows," Reynolds told the show's co-host, Willie Geist. "The Voices" star said he "didn't want to be the first guy screaming it out to the media" out of fear of what his daughter might think when she gets older. He joked, "As we know, little girls turn into teenage girls, and little teenage girls sometimes scan through the archives and go, 'Why did you do that?'"

Reynolds and the 27-year-old Lively, who married in 2012, welcomed James to the world in December. Us Weekly reported in January the child "came early," but that everyone was "happy and healthy." Lively gave birth at a hospital near the couple's home in New York's Westchester County.

Reynolds' full "Today" show interview will be televised April 1.

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