Actress Naomi Watts arrives at the 79th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, California February 25, 2007. Watts is a presenter for the show. [Reuters/Lucy Nicholson]

HOLLYWOOD - Liev Schreiber has confirmed he and girlfriend Naomi Watts are expecting their first child together.

Watts sparked rumors she was pregnant after appearing on the red carpet at the Oscar ceremony on Sunday with a noticeably fuller figure.

Schreiber appeared on talk show Late Night with Conan O¡¯Brien on Monday where he confirmed the happy news, saying, "I'm going to be a dad. Very exciting!

"It's a strange thing about women. You can take a complete wallflower, a quiet girl, and get them pregnant and then they want to go out all the time!

"So I gave her grief about going to the Oscars and she said, 'No, no, it's a very auspicious thing' that our 'embryo,' I guess, was going to be going to the Oscars."

When asked whether the couple had thought about any names he replied, "I'm trying to stay out of it all. I'm trying not to make any decisions.

"I find everything I try to do in service of her or the coming baby is wrong. I really don't even go to my house much anymore."

When O'Brien asked if they would consider passing the unique name Liev on to their offspring he added, "No, it's a terrible name. It's probably the most mispronounced name in all of show business. It's bad enough that I have gone through that for 15 years. There won't be any Liev Juniors. It's not like George; you can call five kids George. You can't really call anyone Liev, you shouldn't call one child that, I don¡¯t think!"