Amanda Beard Welcomes Son Blaise Ray

Courtesy Sacha Brown

She’s won seven Olympic medals for her talents in the pool, and now Amanda Beard can add a new title to her collection: Mom. The swimmer welcomed son Blaise Ray Brown at 10:54 a.m. on Tuesday, September 15th, she tells PEOPLE exclusively. He weighed in at 7 lbs., 12 oz and is 19 ¾ inches long.

“I was in labor for about 16 hours and it was all worth it. He is happy and healthy and everything went as planned,” Amanda shares. “It was the most amazing experience that Sacha and I have ever experienced! We are so happy to be new parents! This is gonna be the best adventure ever.”

Blaise is the first child for Amanda and her husband Sacha Brown, a photographer, who wed in May in Maui. The swimmer plans to be back in the water in six months, and is aiming to compete in the 2012 Olympics.

Amanda, 27, announced the pregnancy and sex of the baby in June. Her due date would have been tomorrow.

Comments

How do you pronounce Blaise? To me i think it sounds like “Blaze”

- melissa on September 15th, 2009

Wow. She wasted NO time getting the announcement out! Congrats to Amanda and Sacha on a healthy baby boy!

And Melissa, I think you’re right on that.

- Mallory on September 15th, 2009

Aww! Congrats to them. I love the name.

- Brooklyn on September 15th, 2009

I met a kid names Blaise once! It always sounded like a Soap Opera name to me, lol. It’s cool though. And yes it’s pronounced “Blaze”.

Congrats!

- Robyn on September 15th, 2009

I had no idea she was pregnant. Congrats to them.

- Gigi on September 15th, 2009

Thanks Mallory and Robyn

- melissa on September 15th, 2009

No offense, but why would you name your child that? If I knew someone with that name, I would assume they were a stoner.

- Kaylie on September 15th, 2009

lol Kaylie. thats a weird name, but its their kid.

- Tina. on September 15th, 2009

Wow Kaylie. While we’re nitpicking names, I’m trying to picture an 80 year old named Kaylie…

- J on September 15th, 2009

Oh, no offence btw.

- J on September 15th, 2009

My husbands name is Blaise. Great name choice! Congrats to them on their bundle of joy.

- Jennifer on September 15th, 2009

Blaise is the name of a Saint. Maybe their religious??

- Jennifer on September 15th, 2009

Kaylie,
You shouldn’t assume things like this and your assumption leads me to believe that maybe you are immature. For the first thing, a name actually has no reflection on you or your personality, but the taste of your parents. Despite this, I still wouldn’t make the assumption that baby Blaise will be a stoner or that is what his parents must be if names are from parents’ taste.
Blaise is actually a very old name. Not only is there a St. Blaise, but Blaise Pascal is a famous 17th century mathematician.
Congratulations to Amanda and Sacha on baby Blaise Ray!

- Meredith on September 15th, 2009

My son is Blaise so I obviously LOVE the name. It is traditional, but unique. It also sounds great with more common last names, such as Brown. Congrats to the family!

- Michele on September 15th, 2009

I have always loved the name Blaise! It’s the name of one of my fave characters in Sherrilyn Kenyon/Kinley MacGregor’s Lords of Avalon series.

- Dierna on September 15th, 2009

What a cool name Blaise. Love it.
Benigna Marko

- Benigna Marko on September 15th, 2009

Congrats to them,nice name

- web Gift on September 15th, 2009

Love the name Blaise. Have a friend with the same name. He says he is always asked if it’s his real name. I personally don’t see why it’s that hard to accept the name… sounds great to me!

- Angela on September 15th, 2009

Reminds me of the scene in Dodgeball “allow me to introduce you to my team. This is Blade, Lazer, Blazer…” The only Blaise’s I’ve ever met were girls and I liked the name.

- dee on September 15th, 2009

It’s an unusual/unique name and depending on where they live and how he’s raised he wil be made fun of because of it. It does sound like a soap name like Ridge, Storm.Spick,etc. Maybe he’ll date Apple Paltrow-whatever her dad’s last name is.

Some people think their child is so special over everyone else they want to give them an unusual name. Yes, like they would know there is a mathematician named this lol.

Is she the swimmer that posed for Playboy?

- lynn on September 15th, 2009

I had a kid named Blaise in my class, he was french. I like it and no one assumed he was a stoner.

- Electra on September 15th, 2009

lynn- Apple’s dad’s last name is Martin, which is also she and her brother Moses’ last name. Neither kid has “Paltrow” as part of their names.

- CelebBabyLover on September 16th, 2009

Yikes, can’t believe some comments. Blaise is far from a crazy name. It’s not even that uncommon. It’s Biblical, but simple and beautiful. Why would anyone make fun of it? And any name can sound “soap-operish” depending on what soap character happens to be popular or on for a long time

- martina on September 16th, 2009

I like the name Blaise! And responding/adding to Meredith’s post, we have a client named Robert, but he likes to go by “Rabbit,” and that, by no means, means he looks like a fuzzy little hippity hop rabbit! (adding to the part about names defining one’s personality or something)…

- alana on September 16th, 2009