Nicole Kidman gives birth to girl called Sunday

It may have been Monday in the US, but it did not stop the arrival of Nicole Kidman\'s little Sunday.

The Oscar-winning actress and her Grammy-winning husband, Keith Urban, early today welcomed the birth of their daughter in the capital of country music, Nashville, Tennessee.

Continuing a recent trend of celebrities anointing their newborns with unusual names, Kidman and Urban named their baby girl Sunday.

Her full name is Sunday Rose Kidman Urban.

Australia\'s glamour couple were thrilled with the arrival of their little bundle of joy.

Earlier this morning, Nic gave birth to our beautiful baby girl, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, Urban gleefully announced on his website.

We want to thank everybody that has kept us in their thoughts and prayers.

We feel very blessed and grateful that we can share this joy with you today.

It is the couple\'s first child together.

Kidman, who turned 41 in June and has struggled with miscarriages in the past, has two adopted children, Isabella, 15, and Connor, 13, with former husband, Tom Cruise.

The actress has talked for years about her desire to give birth, particularly after her romantic harbourside wedding to New Zealand-born, Queensland-raised country crooner Urban on June 25, 2006.

Urban\'s publicist Paul Freundlich announced the birth just after midnight Australian eastern standard time today. Sunday weighed a healthy 6 pounds, 7 ounces (3.04 kilograms).

Nicole and Keith Urban are delighted to announce that Nicole Kidman gave birth to a baby girl on Monday morning, July 7, 2008, in the United States, Freundlich announced in a statement.

Husband Keith was by Nicole\'s side and mother and baby are very well.

Urban let the world know Kidman\'s birth was imminent when he performed a concert in the couple\'s adopted new hometown of Nashville on Saturday night.

Kidman was backstage at the concert.

I\'m going to dedicate a song to my very, very, very, very, VERY pregnant wife! Urban told the crowd of 50,000 before launching into his hit song, Better Half.

After the concert, Urban and Kidman waved to fans as they walked hand-in-hand to a waiting golf cart that whisked them away.

It has been speculated the actress added her surname into her daughter\'s name to keep the Kidman name alive.

Her parents, Janelle and Antony, who were reportedly in Nashville for the birth, had two daughters and without a son, the Kidman name may have been lost.

Last month Kidman revealed in a cover story for American Vogue how she burst into tears the first time she saw the image of Sunday on an ultrasound.

When I first saw the baby on the ultrasound, I started crying, Kidman told Vogue.

I didn\'t think I\'d get to experience that in my lifetime.

I like the unpredictable nature of it.

To feel life growing with you is something very, very special, and I\'m going to embrace that completely.

Nashville became an oasis for Kidman and Urban as the birth approached, although teams of paparazzi migrated to the city in recent weeks to capture the couple as they went about their daily routine with visits to local Starbucks, cafes and other hangouts.

There was speculation Kidman and Urban would follow the lead of her actress friend, Naomi Watts, and have the baby in Los Angeles after the couple bought a multi-million dollar mansion in the conservative west LA neighbourhood of Brentwood, just a few blocks away from Watts\' home.

They instead chose Nashville.

Kidman and Urban are living in a $A4 million seven-bedroom home on rolling green fields outside Nashville while they build their dream estate on 14 hectares of prime land a few kilometres away.

Kidman said she discovered a green thumb in recent months in Nashville.

We have a farm there, and I have an organic vegetable garden, Kidman told Vogue.

This is a path I\'d not taken before.

My mum\'s always gardened.

My sister gardens.

And I\'ve now conformed to the Kidman women\'s hobby of gardening.

AAP