Liam Payne reveals he wanted to call his and Cheryl's son Arthur

Liam Payne says he originally wanted to name his son Arthur because he would sound like a person you would not want to “mess with”.

The One Direction singer and his partner Cheryl welcomed their baby son Bear in March, and although the name is not the one Liam wanted, he said he now agrees it has a similar impact to his more traditional choice.

Liam, 23, also discussed raising his child with the former Girls Aloud star while launching his solo career, and has praised her for doing much of it alone.

He told Kiss FM’s Alex and Andrea: “(Cheryl) wanted a very interesting name, when he leaves a room people wouldn’t forget it. Which I think it definitely does…

“I actually wanted Arthur. I think you sound like a bit of a tank – Arthur Payne. He’s not a guy you’d mess around with.

“I don’t think Bear is either, though.”

Liam said he is finding fatherhood a “bit of a whirlwind” and that Cheryl is “doing it all herself at the moment because she wants to know what it feels like when I’m not there”.

He said: “She knows that I’m going on tour, so obviously she’s got a lot to deal with. Which is hard.

“I thought that I’d get the call saying, we need a nanny for this, but no, she’s doing everything. She’s really pushing herself with it, bless her.”

Liam said they agreed a rota for night feeds but Cheryl insisted she wanted to do most of the work.

“She said there’s no point in us both being tired and there’s going to be points in the day when I need you to be on it, so I need you awake,” he said.

The singer – who next week releases his debut solo single Strip That Down – added: “As a man, night feeds are kind of pointless at times because you, as a woman, you’re so connected to a baby, it’s something that a man just does not have.

“You have that super power as a woman, where you are, you know, your heartbeats are even in sync.”

Liam said he has made a change in his lifestyle since becoming a father, and went “cold turkey” to stop smoking.

“I knew my son was coming, and I was like, I’m not going to be smoking with my son, that’s not right,” he said.

“My life’s not my own any more now, it’s not mine to decide, so smoking had to go.”

Sharing more details about his relationship with 33-year-old Cheryl, with whom he has been an item since early 2016, he said she helped him learn some dance moves while she was pregnant.

He said: “Honestly she is a really good teacher. I’ll tell you one funny story – when she was pregnant she tried to twerk in a mirror and she twerked once, and I was like, no, I’m out of here, ran, no, gone.”