Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev can't settle on baby's middle name

Retired wrestler Nikki Bella and her fiance Artem Chigvintsev are in disagreement about their baby's middle name.

The 36-year-old, who is pregnant at the same time as her twin sister Brie Bella, was "totally surprised" by the news that she and her husband-to-be, former Dancing with the Stars partner Artem Chigvintsev, have a little one on the way.

However, on the latest instalment of their The Bellas Podcast, the newly engaged couple shared that although they haven't decided on a name for their child yet, they were discussing the way Russians typically use their father's name for the middle name.

"I'm gonna defend my culture and history. You just talked about how important it is for the child to experience different cultures and now you're totally dissing it," Artem said, as Nikki insisted she'd rather focus on a middle name for the tot. "Why would you want to just make up a middle name when the name should be coming from family and previous generations? I think it's really important."

He added: "The problem is if you mix cultures... if (a person's whole name) stays completely Russian from the beginning to the end, then it flows.

"But when you put like, an American name with the last name of a Russian and then a made-up middle name, it just becomes like, an extreme hybrid of names, that I dunno if it's gonna work."

Nikki, who announced her pregnancy in January, previously told People being a mum was "something I've dreamed of my whole life" after years of fertility struggles.

The star previously dated wrestler-turned-actor John Cena in 2012, with the pair getting engaged at the WrestleMania 33 event in April, 2017. They ended their engagement a year later and split for good after Cena made it clear he didn't want to have children.