If it’s tough being a celebrity these days, and it’s getting even harder finding a unique name for a celebrity baby.

But Nicole Richie and husband Joel Madden have come up with something new to greet the arrival of their new son, born “In the middle of night, the very early hours of September 9, 2009.”

The 7 1b 14 oz (3.6 kg) baby boy has been named Sparrow James Midnight Madden, Richie, 27, announced on her web site .

Sparrow is baby brother to big sister Harlow Winter Kate Madden, who was born in January 2008.

Sparrow is the latest strikingly unique name chosen recently by celebrities for their offspring, including Bronx Mowgli (son of Ashley Simpson-Wentz), Apple (daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow), Zuma (son of Gwen Stefani) and Sunday Rose (daughter of Nicole Kidman).

At least Nicole and Joel didn’t announce the birth of Sparrow with a Tweet…

Madonna has won her appeal for the right to adopt a second child from Malawi, after a court overturned an earlier ruling blocking the bid, and the 50-year-old queen of pop is likely to face further criticism for her actions.

Local rights groups in Malawi have complained that Madonna has been given special treatment by the judicial system because of her status and wealth, and many people question whether taking a child from its native environment is necessarily a good thing.

Her divorce last year from Guy Ritchie, which has brought with it decisions over custody of their children, appears not to have concerned Malawi’s supreme court unduly. The Madonna brood already comprises daughter Lourdes, born in 1996, Ritchie’s son Rocco, born in 2000, and David Banda, a boy adopted from Malawi. Malawian Mercy James would make it four.

On Friday, Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo said Madonna had shown an interest in helping Malawi orphans and that four-year-old Mercy would have a better life with the star. Madonna has set up a charity called Raising Malawi which plans to build a school for girls in Chikhota village.

Do you think Malawi’s supreme court was right to overturn the earlier decision, thus allowing the adoption to go ahead?

Madonna in Malawi courtHow much she actually cares only Madonna can say. But there are signs that opinion is turning against the singer over her bid to adopt a second child from Malawi. The 50-year-old appeared in court in the southern African country on Monday seeking to adopt four-year-old Mercy James, having already adopted David Banda.

The first case caused some controversy amid accusations that Madonna was given special treatment in Malawi allowing her to bend adoption rules. A similar outcry has met her latest adoption attempt with human rights activists in Malawi threatening to challenge the move and describing it as “child trafficking or kidnapping”. International aid groups have expressed concern over Madonna’s actions in Malawi and in the Western press there has been no shortage of negative reaction, largely in the form of opinion pieces.

In the Daily Mail, Allison Pearson, who defended Madonna when she adopted David, opines that Madonna’s recent divorce from British director Guy Ritchie and decision to move back to New York with the kids may not be good for David. She also described Mercy as a “prop in her (Madonna’s) ongoing mid-life crisis”. Reflecting the other side of the debate, Liz Hunt in the Telegraph supports the pop star, saying that whatever we think about Madonna and her lifestyle she deserves our admiration, not abuse.

Madonna and her team do seem to be aware of the criticism. In a statement released to Reuters on Tuesday, her spokeswoman mentioned “a lot of misinformation out in the press”, said that she is “not skirting any legal issues” and explained that Madonna “is looking to provide a loving family environment” for Mercy.

For months, it has been speculated in celebrity magazines that film and television star Jennifer Garner, who is married to Ben Affleck, is pregnant with the couple’s second child. Although she or her representatives have never confirmed her pregnancy, Garner was in Los Angeles doing interviews for Disney’s “Baby Einstein” products and it was obvious just by looking at her that she was.

Wearing a short, floral print sun dress during an interview with Reuters, Garner could not hide her baby bump.

She and Affleck already have a daughter, Violet, and when we asked Garner which of the Baby Einstein products – a collection of DVDs, CDs and toys that introduce babies to art and classical music — that Violet favored, she declined to answer, saying she would not discuss her family or daughter.

Later in the day, entertainment news show Access Hollywood reported that she confirmed the pregnancy to them, saying she and Ben were “excited, obviously.” But even then she was coy at first, joking with the Access reporter that she “just had a lot of carbs for breakfast. It’s just - what do they call it? A breakfast pouch? Bunch?

Come on, Jennifer. We’ve seen your well-toned body in action roles such as Agent Sydney Bristow on TV’s “Alias” and as superhero Elektra in the films “Daredevil” and “Elektra.” We know the difference. 

(Reporting by Jennifer Martinez)

Banking on readers’ hungry appetite for all things Brangelina — and the general spike in interest in Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie generated by the birth of their twins (call it the Brangelina baby bounce) – People and Hello! magazines have shelled out big bucks for their baby pics. Some reports have $11 million and others go as high as $14 million.

Whatever the price, is it really worth it?

In a quick round of lunchtime interviews outside Reuters’ bureau in celebrity-savvy Los Angeles, many people said they cannot wait to see the pictures, while others yawned at the thought. Just about everyone had an opinion.
    
“Exploit those kids from the beginning, I think it’s awesome,” said attorney Michael Gonzales, 30. “Why not? This is America, squeeze a dollar out of anything.” 

Sarah Bates, 23, an auditor, had a far more blase attitude. She said celebrity magazines are only good to read while traveling, although she might look for photos of the twins on a supermarket shelf.  “I would just look to see, but I wouldn’t buy it,” she said. 

Douglas Lee, 40, an information technology professional, said his wife subscribes to People but he doesn’t read it. He took a supply-and-demand view to the money paid for the pictures.  “It’s silly that they get that value, because it’s by demand, because the public wants to see it,” Lee said. “The amount is driven by the public.”
    
Attorney Lauren Brock, 30, who was eating with attorney Gonzalez, said she would take millions of dollars for her baby’s picture — and she gave her view on why Brangelina can command so much interest.  ”They a live a global lifestyle in the public eye and do it looking so great,” Brock said.
    
“They’re a unique family,” she added. “They’re American but they live around the world, they adopt children from all around the world, they make a ton of movies and not for working very many hours. Then, they give away a lot of it.”

Gonzales piped-up: “And she’s hot,” he said, about Angelina.

Jennifer Garner, who last appeared on screen as an adoptive mother in the teenage-pregnancy comedy “Juno,” is said to be expecting her second real-life baby with husband and onetime co-star Ben Affleck.

There’s no official word from either star’s publicists on recent online gossip about a Garner pregnancy, which has been fueled by recent photos of the actress in loose-fitting tops. But Usmagazine.com reports that her close friend and former “Alias” co-star, Victor Garber, confirmed that Garner is with child. And the magazine quotes an unnamed source as saying, “She is five months pregnant. They are very happy.”

Garner, 36, and Affleck, 35, who battled each other on screen in the 2003 superhero action film “Daredevil,” are parents of a 2-year-old daughter, Violet.  The Hollywood couple announced her first pregnancy and their marriage simultaneously in June 2005. Her pregnancy ultimately was written into the story line of the character she played on the ABC espionage thriller “Alias.”

Garner, who recently appeared on Broadway in a production of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” was quoted last fall in the British magazine Marie Claire as saying she looked forward to having a second child. “We definitely wonder what it would be like to have another — hopefully, knock on wood, someday,” she said then. “My job is great to have as a mom. I get to take breaks and then work in a really concentrated way. During that concentrated time, it sucks, but whatever.”

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban peaked the curiosity of their fans when the celebrity couple named their daughter Sunday Rose following her birth on Monday. There was no explanation so it fell to Kidman’s father to explain the name – and it turns out the infant is named after Sunday Reed, an Australian patron of the arts with a tumultuous life story.

“I have read a bit about Sunday Reed and her husband John — she was a key mover and shaker in the arts around the beginning of the century,” Antony Kidman, told The Daily Telegraph of Sydney. “The name Sunday struck me as being a nice name for a woman, so my wife and I mentioned it.”

Sunday Reed came from a wealthy family and in the 1930s, during the height of the Great Depression, she and her husband turned their home into a haven for artists. One of those artists was the late painter Sidney Nolan, who became entangled in a decade-long menage-a-trois with the Reeds and who made Sunday Reed into his muse.

Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman, 41, and Grammy-winning country singer Keith Urban, 40, both were raised in Australia. They recently attended an exhibition of Sidney Nolan’s art in the state of New South Wales, the Daily Telegraph reported. A quote from Nolan posted at the exhibit read: “When you are young you are given a good view of life, because of your closeness to birth,” according to the newspaper.

Sunday Rose Kidman Urban is the first biological daughter for Oscar-winner  Kidman, star of “The Golden Compass” and “The Interpreter.” The baby, who was born in the United States, reportedly got her middle name from Urban’s grandmother.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

She delighted movie fans this past weekend playing a surrogate mother in comedy movie “Baby Mama,” and now it appears “Saturday Night Live” star Amy Poehler will get the chance to be a mom in real life.

Celebrity magazine People, on Monday, said Poehler is pregnant.

Citing Poehler’s representative Lewis Kay, People said Poehler, 36, and her husband Will Arnett, 37, will become first-time parents this fall.

This past weekend, “Baby Mama” opened No. 1 at U.S. and Canadian box offices, taking in more than $18 million in ticket sales. Poehler is paired with comic writer/actress Tina Fey in the comedy about a woman (Fey) who longs for a baby so she hires a surrogate (Poehler) to have the child.