I totally forgot that Sophie Hunterbatch was pregnant! That’s how low-key Benedict Cumberbatch has been in 2017. Granted, his 2016 was a little bit crazy, but he seems to have learned some lessons from The Cumberbatching of 2014-15, where he was everywhere, all the time, hustling for the Oscar and for his new bride and baby. Of course, there were some awkward moments during the Doctor Strange promotional tour last year, like when he made Sophie sound like a loyal and faithful dog, or when he said that Sophie’s greatest achievement was having his baby. Sophie and Benedict announced their second pregnancy just as the Strange promotion was starting. And now they’ve welcomed their second child… another boy! And we know the name too.

He has yet to formally announce the news – but Benedict Cumberbatch has become a father for the second time. The actor’s wife, Sophie Hunter, 39, gave birth to their second son at the £1,200-a-night Portland Hospital in London on March 3. And in true thespian style, Cumberbatch named his boy after a Shakespearean hero.

Hal was the nickname Henry V had before he became the hero of Agincourt. But in choosing the name, Cumberbatch could also be acknowledging his affection for fellow screen star Tom Hiddleston. The pair starred together in 2012 in The Hollow Crown, an amalgamation of Shakespeare’s history plays in which Cumberbatch played Richard III and Hiddleston took the role of Hal. They have been close pals ever since meeting on the set of Steven Spielberg’s film War Horse in 2010.

‘We became friends for life,’ Hiddleston has said.

The baby’s full name is Hal Auden Cumberbatch, and is a brother to Christopher, who was born in June 2015. Sophie and the Sherlock star, 40, welcomed their son Christopher in June 2015, just a few months after their Valentine’s Day wedding.

[From The Daily Mail]

Hal Auden Cumberbatch? I think Bendy and Sophie are basically acknowledging that it’s difficult to find a first name to “match” the weirdness that is the “Cumberbatch” last name. They solved the dilemma well with the first baby – Christopher Cumberbatch is a lovely name, as is Kit Cumberbatch (which is the nickname they apparently use). I bet they were aiming for some one-syllable “punchy” name and they came up with Hal. But Hal Cumberbatch sounds like one of two options: a total dweeb who works in I.T. in Nebraska OR a total posh dweeb who had to drop out of Eton because of a case of the vapors. They should have just called him Mick Cumberbatch or Wolf Cumberbatch. Something to de-posh the surname.

And no, I don’t think calling the baby Hal had anything to do with Tom Hiddleston. Tom and Benedict aren’t THAT close. But it probably was a Shakespearean reference.

Photos courtesy of WENN.