Core blimey... Gwyneth's had a baby Apple

The actress gave birth to her daughter after a "long labour". She and her husband, Coldplay singer Chris Martin, have named her Apple Blythe Alison Martin.

The baby weighed 9 pounds 11 ounces when she was born on Friday and both mother and baby were said to be doing fine.

The celebrity couple said they were ecstatic over the birth of their daughter. Martin said: "We are 900 miles over the moon."

Motherhood will hopefully be the next step on the road to happiness for the 31-year-old American actress, after a self-confessed tough time.

The star, who won an Oscar for her role in Shakespeare in Love, has had her fair share of high-profile failed romances with Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck.

Then last year her director father, Bruce, died from throat cancer in Rome during her 30th birthday celebrations. His death, she said, sparked the worst year of her life.

But while dealing with her grief, the actress finally found love with Martin. She tied the knot with the now 27-year-old Devon rock star in a secret ceremony in Santa Barbara, California, last December.

The media-shy couple, who were fiercely tight-lipped about their year-long romance, broke the news they were expecting a baby shortly before they wed.

The choice of Apple follows the long-standing tradition of celebrities giving their offspring unconventional names.

Bob Geldof's three daughters are called Peaches, Pixie and Fifi Trixibelle.

Perhaps most bizarre of all are the names picked by musician Frank Zappa who called his daughter Moon Unit - after the Apollo landings which happened around the time of her birth - and his son Dweezil, his pet name for his wife’s little toe.