FANS have speculated that Cheryl and Liam Payne will call their newborn son Alfie or Taylor.

The former X Factor judge and Girls Aloud star announced with an Instagram post on Saturday evening that she and the One Direction singer had become parents on Wednesday.

She shared a picture of Payne cradling their baby and revealed that he does not yet have a name.

Within hours of the revelation, fans of Cheryl, 33, and Payne, 23, took to Twitter to ruminate over the infant's possible moniker, with many citing a previous interview she had given in which she said she liked the name Alfie.

One fan wrote: "I wonder if @CherylOfficial & @LiamPayne will name their Son Alfie as Cheryl has said previously she likes the name #CherylAndLiam."

"I heard Cheryl likes the name Alfie ... Imagine Alfie Payne ... I kinda like it tbh," another added, while several others agreed.

In an interview with GQ in 2012, Cheryl said: "I'd love kids. I'm obsessed with babies. Of course I've thought about baby names. A million times. I like Alfie for a little boy. I know that's what I was put on the earth to do. To be a mother."

Another name doing the rounds on social media was Taylor, a name that Payne once declared a fondness for.

One keen One Direction fan joked that the "fandom" had already declared the baby's name as Taylor, writing: "Liam and cheryl: *thinking for the baby's name*. Fandom: WELCOME TO THE FANDOM BABY TAYLOR PAYNE. Me: im done with this fandom."

Another wrote: "WAIT is he gonna name the baby "taylor" because he once said he wanted to name his child taylor."

In a previous radio interview, Payne said: "I like the name Taylor. Taylor's pretty neutral for a boy or a girl.

"That's what I'm going to call my first child if I had children."

New mother Cheryl - who had largely kept her pregnancy private - wrote that her son is "already stealing hearts" as she shared her news online.

She added: "We are all madly in love and overwhelmingly happy with our little arrival."

Payne wrote in a separate post that he was "speechless" and "completely in awe" of Cheryl.

He added: "She's really made my dreams come true."

Cheryl and Payne have been an item for over a year, and they first met in 2008 when he auditioned on The X Factor, on which she was a judge.

Cheryl has been married twice, to footballer Ashley Cole and restaurateur Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini, and now goes by the mononym Cheryl.