In an interview on Larry King Live last night, Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer and self-proclaimed lover, Howard K. Stern, revealed that he thinks he’s the father of Anna’s baby. Papparazo Larry Birkhead also claims to be the father of the baby, and said he went to early doctor’s visits with Anna and was made to believe that the baby is his. I don’t think that Stern is the father and I’ll get into the reasons why in another post.

What interested me is the fact that Anna Nicole named her daughter “Danilynne” after her tragically departed son, Danielle, and his nickname for her as a child, Lynne. News reports have the name listed as “Dannie Lyne Hope,” with Hope being her middle name, but the CNN transcript of the interview lists it several times as one word: “Danilynne.” Stern states that “Danilynne” is her first name, not just “Dani”:

Anna famously asked Britney Spears to be her friend a few months ago in a video message on her subscription-access website. While she was six month’s pregnant she said, “If you wanted to be friends, I would so much love to hang out with you. I think you’re totally cool and I think we’re going to have our babies about the same time.”

There was a report right before Britney Spears was due that claimed that Britney was having a girl she wanted to name “Jailynn,” also after members of her family. Some people thought it was a great name, while others pointed out that it had “Jail” in it, and sounded kind of silly.

Was Anna inspired by Britney to name her daughter “Danilynne?” It’s possible, but it’s also common to name a child after family members. The added “Lynne” built into the name just makes it seem a little close for coincidence considering that Anna Nicole asked Britney to be her friend.