Sydney - Nicole Kidman's father Wednesday claimed credit for Sunday Rose, the name the Hollywood actor and country-crooner husband Keith Urban bestowed on their firstborn child. Kidman, 41, gave birth Monday in Nashville, Tennessee. Antony Kidman told Sydney newspaper the Daily Telegraph that he had suggested Sunday because of his fascination with 1930s arts patron and party girl Sunday Reed.
While married to one of Australia's richest men, Sunday Reed took lovers from among the city's arts community, including prominent painter Sydney Nolan, who is best known for his stylized portraits of outlaw Ned Kelly.
"The name struck me as being a nice name for a woman, so my wife and I mentioned it," Dr Kidman told the paper. "It was among other names being mentioned but they decided it was the name they wanted."
Shane Urban, Keith's brother, told the paper that the New Zealand-born country star had picked Rose in honour of their grandmother Rose.
Australians, already upset she chose to give birth in the United States, have pilloried Kidman for taking her cue from other celebrities and picking an odd name for her 2.9-kilogram daughter, whose full name is Sunday Rose Kidman Urban.
"She just wants to fit in with the rest of the morons who choose horrible names for their children," a reader calling himself Sam wrote to Melbourne's Sun Herald newspaper.
"Sunday Urban? Sounds like a cheap rail ticket for pensioners," noted Jeff, also of Melbourne.
Kidman and Urban, married in Sydney (on a Sunday) in June 2006, intend having Sunday Rose baptized a Catholic in the same seaside church later this year.
Father Paul Coleman, who presided over the wedding, is expected to baptize the child at the Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel on Manly Beach.
Kidman adopted two children with her former husband Tom Cruise, who spend most of their time with him.
It was a first marriage for Urban, who has lived in the US since 1992.
