A couple in Armenian city of Gyumri named their newborn baby after French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday, January 25 in thanks for the French Senate vote to outlaw denial of 1915 Armenian Genocide, AFP reported.

The family said the child was given the first name Sarkozy out of gratitude to the French leader, who many Armenians have praised for backing the bill.

"We were going to name the baby after his grandfather, but after the French Senate passed the bill despite threats from the Turks, we decided to name him in honour of the president of France, this brave man," the boy's grandmother Alvard Manukian said.

"Let our baby, Sarkozy Avetisian, become a man as brave and just as his namesake," his grandmother said.

Armenia has hailed Sarkozy for his commitment to the bill which has infuriated France's NATO ally Turkey, with President Serzh Sargsyan saying that France had "reaffirmed its greatness and power, its devotion to universal human values".