I could take or leave most of the issues and debates within The Mommy Wars. Breastfeeding, prenatal diets, baby carriers? I cover these things because a lot of people have strong feelings about them. But I LOVE talking about women changing their names from their maiden name to their married name. For a while, it felt like fewer famous/celebrity women were completely dumping their maiden names. Like, if there was a name change at all, women were just adding a hyphen and their husband’s name. Courteney Cox-Arquette, Angelina Jolie-Pitt, etc. But it does feel like there’s a movement with celebrity women – or celebrity-adjacent-women – to just drop their maiden names completely. Jessica Biel is legally Jessica Timberlake, I’m pretty sure. Amal Alamuddin became Amal Clooney one hot minute after she got married. And now, two years after Benedict Cumberbatch married Sophie Hunter, we’re getting confirmation that Sophie has become Sophie Cumberbatch. That detail was folded into the People story about their new baby Hal Auden Cumberbatch.
Elementary, my dear — Benedict Cumberbatch is a dad again. The Sherlock star and his wife Sophie welcomed their second child together, Hal Auden Cumberbatch, on March 3, PEOPLE confirms.
PEOPLE can also confirm that Sophie has formally changed her name from Sophie Hunter to Sophie Cumberbatch.
Cumberbatch, 40, and theater director Hunter — also parents to son Christopher “Kit” Carlton, 20 months — confirmed the pregnancy in October, when Hunter debuted her baby bump at the Los Angeles premiere of Cumberbatch’s film Doctor Strange.
I guess Sophie is in it for long haul? I always thought hyphenated names were quite popular with the posh set in Britain, and I am a little bit surprised she didn’t become Sophie Hunter-Cumberbatch, which is a mouthful but it also screams “I’M VERY BRITISH.” I guess the Hunter name doesn’t open as many doors as the Cumberbatch name. Or maybe she’s just old-school. I’ve been calling her Sophie Hunterbatch for a while, so I’m sad I have to retire that name for her now. From now on, she’ll be Sophie Batch? Sophie Cumber? Lord and Lady Cumberfancybritches? In any case, this really won’t matter – people will still call her Sophie Hunter, because that’s the name she had when she was introduced to us, and her maiden name is part of her “brand” as a celebrity now. Ask Kate Middleton!
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
