Fashion designer Jayson Brunsdon, and his partner Aaron Elias, welcomed their first child on January 5 and have named their son Roman Elias. Roman was born via a Thai surrogate, using an egg donated by a cousin, who will remain part of Roman’s life.

Jayson is a former fashion editor for US Vogue and Follow Me magazine. He has worked as a stylist in New York and been creative director for Morrissey Edmiston. He launched his own label in 2004, and has stores in Sydney, Melbourne, and Singapore. His designs are available internationally at major stores such as Myer, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Harvey Nichols, while his collections have been shown at New York Fashion Week. Aaron is Jayson’s business partner; he and Jayson have been together for sixteen years.

The name Roman was chosen to reflect strength and power – there were many obstacles in the way for Jayson and Aaron, and they feel their son had to fight his way to them. Jayson says, “… he is a fighter, warrior”. The middle name, of course, is Aaron’s surname.

(Photo shows Jayson and Aaron with Roman; Jayson is on the left)

Singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, and her fiancé Dan Lee, welcomed their first child on January 4 and have named their son Samuel Arrow. This is the second recent celebrity baby with Arrow as his middle name – the other was Bobby Arrow Ross, son of radio host Tim Ross.

Melissa “Missy” Higgins began her career in pop music while still in high school, and her first album, The Sound of White, was released in 2004, winning multiple ARIA Awards, including Album of the Year and Best Female Artist. On a Clear Night was released in 2007 in the US, and the single Where I Stood was used on the soundtracks of American television series such as Grey’s Anatomy and One Tree Hill. Her most recent album was last year; titled Oz, it is a collection of covers of Australian songs. Missy has toured extensively and performed in the musical film Bran Nue Day. A vegetarian interested in environmental issues, Missy has supported campaigns by PETA, the World Wide Fund for Nature, and the Sierra Club, protested puppy farming and dumping on the Great Barrier Reef, and has tried to make her tours carbon neutral.

Dan Lee is a playwright and comedian from Broome. He and Missy began dating in 2013, and got engaged last month.