Simon Cowell Welcomes Son

Simon Cowell is a new father.

Baby Eric Cowell (named after Simon’s dad) came into the world on Friday at 5:45 PM ET, Simon confirmed on Twitter.

Very happy to say Eric was born at 17.45pm. Healthy and handsome.

— Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) February 15, 2014

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Simon’s son with girlfriend Lauren Silverman weighed 6 lbs., 7 oz., according to People.

“Lauren in great shape. Thanks for all of your kind messages,” Simon noted on Twitter.

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Last fall, Simon joked to Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson that he was thinking of calling his son Tad.

“The first time I saw it, [it] was like that big and I called him Tad because he looked like a tadpole. I still want to call him Tad,” Simon said, with a laugh, back in October.

Simon may have a son, but back during that interview with Shaun, he said he was OK with a baby of either gender.

“I wouldn’t [have] minded either way,” he told Shaun. “But, I kind of knew it was going to be a boy. I just had this feeling, well, the fact that I was calling [him] Tad, you know, that is kind of a guy’s name. I just had that feeling.”

— Jolie Lash