Ed Sheeran has confirmed his wife Cherry has given birth to their first child – a daughter named Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran.
The singer announced the news on Instagram in his first social media post since December 2019.
He wrote on Instagram: “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.”
The name Lyra has links to both music and astronomy as it derives from the Latin word for lyre, a small harp, and describes a constellation in the northern sky containing the star Vega.
Musician Jamie Cullum and former model Sophie Dahl also share a daughter called Lyra, born in March 2011.
It is also the name of the heroine in Sir Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books.
It is not clear why Sheeran and Seaborn named the child after Antarctica, the southernmost continent.
The ice-covered landmass, the site of the geographic South Pole, is virtually uninhabited and surrounded by the Southern Ocean.
It is the fifth-largest continent and nearly twice the size of Australia.
At the end of 2019 Sheeran announced he was taking a break from work and social media after being “non stop” for the past two years.
The 29-year-old said in a message to his more than 30 million Instagram followers: “The Divide era and tour changed my life in so many ways, but now it’s all over it’s time to go out and see some more of the world.
“I’ve been a bit non stop since 2017 so I’m just gonna take a breather to travel, write and read. Il be off all social media until it’s time to come back.
“To my family and friends, see ya when I see ya – and to my fans, thank you for always being amazing, I promise to be back with some new music when the time is right and I’ve lived a little more to actually have something to write about.
“Lots of love x.”
Since his announcement he has been absent from social media platforms.
Sheeran also previously took a hiatus from social media platforms in 2016.
Despite being in the spotlight for his music, he has remained private about his relationship with Seaborn.
In 2018, he announced that the couple were engaged and in 2019 he confirmed that they were husband and wife, but did not share further details.
Fans were given a rare glimpse of their relationship in his Put It All On Me music video featuring Ella Mai, released last year.
The video featured a series of couples from all over the world, each with their own story of their relationship.
Towards the end of the video, Sheeran and Seaborn were filmed together in a kitchen, dancing, laughing and sharing a kiss.
Words describing their romance appeared on screen, saying: “Back in high school, Ed & Cherry were crushing hard. They made out at the castle on the hill.
“A few years ago they reconnected, there were fireworks. They married in January 2019.”