Cricket Captain Ricky Ponting Welcomes Emmy Charlotte

07/29/2008 at 06:00 AM ET

Ricky_pontingAn "absolutely thrilled" Ricky Ponting, the 33-year-old captain of the Australian cricket team, has welcomed his first child with wife Rianna. Their daughter, Emmy Charlotte, was born Saturday morning in Sydney. In a statement, Ricky said both mom and baby were doing well and that Emmy is "the most gorgeous little girl."

Ricky and Rianna — who were married in 2002 — announced the pregnancy in February.

Source: Herald Sun; Photo by Snapper Media / Splash News.

Thanks to CBB readers Freya and Kate.

FILED UNDER: Births , News

Share this story:

Your reaction:

Add A Comment

PEOPLE.com reserves the right to remove comments at their discretion.

Comments + Add a comment

Showing 0 comments

Gabrielle on July 29th, 2008

Congratulations to them!

There seems to be a trend starting of giving children nick names (Maddie, Emmy, Peanut) as first names. It will be interesting to see where it goes.

Max'sMom on July 29th, 2008

When they announced the birth, they gave a late August due date, I guess the baby came a month earlier.
Hope everyone is doing great

Natasha on July 29th, 2008

I agree that Emmy is more of a nickname..why not Emma, Emma is a pretty name but atleast they didn’t name her Peanut. Congrats to them !

Laura on July 29th, 2008

I think it’s funny when people dismiss a name as being a nickname. If you give your child a certain name, it’s a name, end of story, as far as I’m concerned. To be honest, I find it harder to understand people who give their child a ‘proper’ name that they don’t like themselves, just so that they can use an abbreviated form (and an entirely different word) as a nickname. Emmy is one of my favourite names for a little girl; I’ve never actually liked the name Emma all that much. No offense intended to anyone. 🙂

And having said that… did someone actually name their child Peanut? I’m hoping that’s a joke. Even I have my limits. 🙂

Laura on July 29th, 2008

I think Emmy Charlotte is a gorgeous name. I agree with the whole nickname thing… why give your child a specific name just so it can be shortened to something else?
I think nicknames develop over time!

And yes, Ingo Rademacher named his son Peanut Kai. That’ll be cute for about 5 minutes!

Mia on July 29th, 2008

I don’t know who this couple is, but i had to comment on the name, which i love. My niece is named Emmy, and yes, it’s her real name, not a nickname. Her mom hates it when someone assumes her name is Emily or Emma. I don’t have a problem with people naming their kids a name that is traditionally a nickname. I really don’t like to see a child named one name and called something else. Anyway congrats to them and love the name.

CelebBabyLover on July 29th, 2008

I think Emmy is a beautiful name (Jennifer Lopez named her daughter that as well, but spelled “Emme”)! I don’t see anything wrong with Emmy as a full first name. Some “nicknames” can also serve quite well as stand-alone full names (i.e., being a full name instead of a nickname for another name). My mother has a “nickname” first name, and it’s just as beautiful as a stand-alone name as a nickname! (and she’s living proof that kids will tease you about your name no matter what it is: Part of the reason her mother chose her name was so kids couldn’t nickname her. Nice try, but it didn’t work!)

I think Emmy also sounds beautiful as a stand-alone name! 🙂 And why call her Emma, Emaline, Emily, etc. if they’ll just be calling her Emmy all the time?

Catu on July 31st, 2008

Love the name 😀

cricket fan on August 7th, 2008

Hey Ricky and Rianna,
big congrats!!!!! You guys will make first rate parents. Hope you will have many more little treasures. Luv from your number 1 fan 😀

lily on January 4th, 2009

my best friend is called emmy, thats her real name not a nickname and her mum gets frustrated when she is signing her up for horse events and the judges just assume Emmy is a nickname and enter here as Emily….I love the name emmy…its gorgeous congrats ricky and rianna

shirin on December 11th, 2009

emmy is a cute name.she is georgeous too.the baby looks like a little doll,punter sure is lucky