Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch welcomes second son with wife Sophie Hunter

Benedict Cumberbatch has become a father for the second time.

The 40-year-old Sherlock and Doctor Strange star welcomed a son with wife Sophie Hunter, 39, on March 3 at the £1,200-a-night Portland Hospital in London.

They are already proud parents to one-year-old Christopher who was born in June 2015.

While Oscar-nominated Benedict has yet to comment on the birth himself, multiple news outlets are reporting that the couple have named the tot Hal Auden Cumberbatch.

The moniker is believed to be inspired by a hero from the works of playwright William Shakespeare.

Hal was the nickname that Henry V had before becoming the hero of Agincourt.

It could also be a nod towards Benedict's close pal and fellow actor Tom Hiddleston, 36. The pair starred together in 2012's The Hollow Crown series of Shakespear's history plays in which Cumberbatch played Richard III while Hiddleston played Hal.

Reflecting on their friendship which began after they met on the set of Steven Spielberg's film War Horse in 2010, the new dad said: "We became friends for life".

Benedict and his theatre director other half tied the knot on Valentine's Day in 2015.

The blushing bride, who at the time was pregnant with her first child, sported a Valentino couture wedding dress for the nuptials which took place at the 12th century St Peter & St Paul Church near Brighstone on the Isle of Wight.

It was a big year for Benedict who received his first Academy Award nomination for playing Second World War hero Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.

While he lost out to fellow Brit Eddie Redmayne who scooped the gong for his turn as Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything, Benedict made up for it with a romantic honeymoon in Tahiti and Bora Bora later that month.