Ryan Reynolds defends daughter James' name

LONDON, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Ryan Reynolds doesn't think daughter James' name is particularly unusual.

The 39-year-old actor defended the choice in an interview Friday on Good Morning Britain. Reynolds explained he and wife Blake Lively picked the name to honor his father, James Reynolds, who died after James was born.

"In the spectrum of weird celebrity baby names, I feel like we're not really breaking any new ground here ... I mean, I didn't call her Summer Squash Meadow Lark or something," he said. "I also thought of all the letters being silent in her name, so it would just be 'Haa,'" he joked.

Reynolds and Lively married in 2012 and welcomed James in December 2014. The actor announced his daughter's name on the Today show in March after joking he and the 28-year-old actress had named her Butternut Summer Squash.

"Everyone knows, and I told everyone who would listen before it was out there that I didn't want to be the first guy screaming it out to the media because, as we know, little girls turn into teenage girls and little teenage girls sometimes scan through the archives and go, 'Why did you do that?'" he said.

Reynolds later revealed James' birth date by wishing her a happy birthday Dec. 16 on Twitter. The actor previously discussed fatherhood in the October issue of GQ magazine, saying he believes he's the dad he hoped he would be.

"You know, I like it: I mean that in the heaviest context," he said of parenthood. "I genuinely like it. I like being a father. I like having a daughter. I would like to have more kids. You know, it seems to suit me pretty well."

Reynolds will next star in Deadpool, which opens in theaters Feb. 12. The actor is also slated for The Hitman's Bodyguard with Samuel L. Jackson and Criminal with Gal Gadot, and will return to voice Guy in The Croods 2.