Ex-Spice girl names daughter after Eddie Murphy

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - Former Spice Girl Melanie Brown has named her baby daughter after Hollywood comedian Eddie Murphy, who disputes that the child is his.

A statement issued on Tuesday said the girl's full name was Angel Iris Murphy Brown.

"Melanie, who had spent a while deciding on the baby's name, said it was inspired by a number of things," the statement said.

"Angel, as she was my little angel through my pregnancy; Iris, as it's my Grandma's name, Murphy because he's the dad and Brown, because I'm the Mum!"

Angel, Brown's second child, was born on April 3 in a California hospital.

Brown, who performed under the name Mel B and was nicknamed Scary Spice, already has an 8-year-old daughter, Phoenix Chi, by ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar.

Newspapers have reported that 31-year-old Brown had a DNA test when Angel was born to prove who the father was, and that she split from Murphy in December.