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The Murphy-Brown Name Game

Tue., Apr. 24, 2007 10:08 AM PDT by Julie Keller

Like it or not, Eddie Murphy is one step closer to having another Dreamgirl to his credit.

Ex-girlfriend Melanie Brown announced Tuesday that she has given her newborn daughter Murphy's surname, further upping the ante in the former couple's ongoing paternity spat.

In a statement, Brown, 31, explained the genesis of Angel Iris Murphy Brown's moniker:

"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!" (Guess that means the Candice Bergen link is merely a happy accident.)

The announcement comes nearly a month after the child's Apr. 3 birth and almost two weeks after Brown listed Murphy as the father on the child's birth certificate.

The actor's publicist, Arnold Robinson, reiterated Tuesday that "we do not comment on Mr. Murphy's personal life."

Murphy, 46, has remained mum since news of Brown's pregnancy first surfaced. Asked last fall if he was excited for the birth, the Dreamgirls Oscar nominee told a reporter: "Now you're being presumptuous because we're not together any more. And I don't know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test. You shouldn't jump to conclusions, sir."

There have been reports in the British tabloids that Brown has already obtained a DNA sample from the infant but so far no legal action has been taken.

Meanwhile, the erstwhile Scary Spice has tried to remain civil in her public comments, telling OK! magazine that she sees a strong resemblance.

"I look at the baby and she has his big smile and dimples," she says in this week's issue, which also includes a photo of her and the baby. "She's gorgeous. She has taken the best bits of both of us. He will always be a part of my life. I will always love him. I couldn't hate Eddie. We had a dream life."

Brown reveals that she and Murphy were very serious during their five-month relationship last year and even got tattoos of each other's names.

"In my fantasy world this would never have happened and we would have been living happily ever after. We would be married and having more kids," she says, before pleading with Murphy to "step up to the plate and be responsible."

Angel is Brown's second child. She has an eight-year-old daughter named Phoenix Chi with ex-husband Jimmy Gulzar. Murphy, meanwhile, has five children from his longtime marriage to Nicole Mitchell Murphy, whom he divorced in April 2006.