LIAM Payne and Cheryl Cole welcomed their son Bear into the world on March 2022, 2017.
The former One Direction star tragically passed away on October 16, 2024 after falling from a third-floor balcony in Argentina.
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The 31-year-old singer was in Buenos Aires for pal Niall Horan’s tour when he tragically fell from his hotel room balcony.
Liam was staying at Hotel CasaSur in the neighbourhood of Palermo.
He is survived by his son Bear.
What Liam & Cheryl called their son
The Sun exclusively revealed their son was born on March 22, 2017.
Cheryl and Liam named their baby Bear, and the tot took his former One Direction star dad’s surname, Payne.
They decided on the unusual name after spending a week getting to know him.
A source revealed: “Cheryl and Liam wanted to get to know their baby before deciding on a name.
“They spent over a week getting to know him first before deciding.”
The baby name became the subject of an April Fool’s prank, with Directioners making the name Lionel trend as the baby’s name.
Marie Claire also shared an article naming the tot as “Wayne ‘Window’ Payne”.
Why they chose Bear
Liam revealed the reason Cheryl chose to call their newborn son Bear during a radio interview in the US
And the singer confessed he’d had an “internal battle” about the moniker.
Liam said: “The reason she chose Bear, in the end, was that Bear is a name that when you leave a room you won’t forget. And I like that.
“When I look at him he is Bear.
Liam told us Bear’s middle name! It’s Grey! Bear Grey Payne!
An excited fan after meeting Liam
“To be honest at first I wasn’t having it, I didn’t understand it and I wasn’t sure.
“Now I look at him and he is Bear. It’s mad.”
On his son’s first birthday in 2018, Liam shared an adorable picture, captioning it “my world”.
The following year he posted a sweet snap of them playing the piano together.
What is Bear’s nickname and middle name?
Liam had previously revealed “Cub” to be his adorable nickname for baby Bear.
The One Direction star met fans in America for a Q&A after his son was born, and immediately opened up on “making a human”.
One fan wrote: “He said his proudest moment was Bear and said at first he called him cub a lot.”
According to a fan who met the One Direction star in Boston, Liam and Cheryl decided to give their “cub” the middle name of Grey.
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An excited Twitter user called Jackie posted: “LIAM TOLD US BEAR’S MIDDLE NAME! IT’S GREY! BEAR GREY PAYNE.”
The fan also added that the name certainly suits their little one, tweeting: “He just talked about letting Cheryl name him and that when he looks at him now ‘he’s definitely Bear’ & that his middle name is Grey.'”
Cheryl & Liam’s split
On July 1, 2018, The Sun exclusively revealed that Cheryl and Liam had separated after two-and-a-half years.
At the time, the pair released a statement confirming their split: “We are sad to announce that we are going our separate ways.
“It’s been a tough decision for us to make.
“We still have so much love for each other as a family.
“Bear is our world and we ask that you respect his privacy as we navigate our way through this together.”