Liam Payne explains inspiration behind baby son Bear's name

Liam Payne was inspired to name his son Bear due to the growling noises the baby made as a newborn.

The former One Direction singer and his girlfriend Cheryl welcomed their first child together, a boy named Bear Grey Payne, in March (17).

During an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden on Wednesday night (06Sep17), host James questioned Liam over how he decided upon the tot's unusual moniker, and the star explained his logic.

"When he was born, one of the midwives said it, he had this thing where if they don't have a good cry they get fluid in the lungs which is quite serious," he said. "He was going like, 'Grrr, grrr,' when he was sleeping. So I had specialists running in and out of hospital all day, my missus was asleep, I had like 10 doctors come into the room.

"And in the end, the guy was just like, 'I'm not being funny, there's nothing wrong with him, he just likes to make a lot of noise.' And that's carried on ever since, so it just became Bear."

Liam added that he believes children "live out their name," and then shared that Bear is already "humongous" and that his petite grandmother struggles to hold him.

While promoting his new music from his forthcoming album in Toronto, Canada earlier in the week, the 24-year-old also spoke about how he's enjoying being a father to "super happy" Bear. Divulging that the baby will sleep for 11 hours at a time, Liam noted that the baby is now showing signs of music talent like his famous parents.

"He loves singing. He loves being sang (sic) to," he told Entertainment Tonight. "That's what makes him happy and what makes him laugh, so maybe there's a bit of music in him, you know," he smiled.