Derek Hough made a change to his Instagram bio and some fans are convinced he quietly shared his first child’s initials.
Hough and his wife, Hayley Erbert, are expecting their first baby any day now, and some fans noticed that Hough added the initials “ECH” to his bio in recent days. One fan posted the update to Reddit and fans have been guessing the baby’s name ever since.
“Derek just changed his IG profile soon to be daddy to ECH. You think it’s baby’s initials? Any guesses on name?” a Redditor wrote, kicking off a new thread. A quick look at Hough’s Instagram bio and the letters ECH appear at the very top of his listed accolades.
“My vote is on Eloise!” one person commented on the thread about the mysterious initials.
“Ooohhhhhhhh! I was guessing the delay in announcing was because they have a magazine or something publishing photos. Girl – Evelyn Caroline. Boy – Elliot Connor,” someone else guessed.
“I’m guessing something from the El- trend. Ella, Ellie, Eleanor, etc. They seem like people who would go for a trendy but still classic name,” a third comment read.
Hough and Erbert announced they were expecting back in July.
“We can’t believe the biggest thing to happen to us could be so small,” Erbert captioned a joint Instagram post at the time.
In recent weeks, Erbert has been trying to get her body to go into labor. She’s tried all kinds of things, from bouncing on a ball to eating a labor-inducing salad. Meanwhile, over the past few days, Hough has been re-sharing some older content to his Instagram Stories, which has many fans believing that Erbert has already given birth.
The couple has not shared the sex of their baby and it’s unclear if the little one made an appearance before the new year.
This story was originally published by Parade on Jan 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the Celebs section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.