Surf legend Mick Fanning reveals his baby joy just days after his brother died in tragic circumstances – and his newborn daughter has a unique name

Aussie surfing icon Mick Fanning and his fiancee Breeana Randall have announced the birth of their daughter just weeks after the two-time world champion’s world was turned upside down by the death of his brother Edward.

Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, Fanning posted an adorable photo of their new arrival accompanied by the simple caption: ‘Lyla Skye Fanning 4/4/24’.

Lyla has Arabic and Hebrew origins and can be translated as ‘night’, ‘dark’ or ‘dark beauty’. 

The couple’s son Xander Dean was born in August 2020, and they announced they were expecting Lyla last December.

Her arrival comes just after Fanning’s elder brother Edward died after contracting an infection while working as a surf guide in Madagascar. 

The shocking news followed the death of Mick’s older brother Peter in 2015 and another brother, Sean, dying in a car crash at Coolangatta in 1998 when the former world champion was just 17.

The 42-year-old revealed the depths of his devastation in an emotional social media post soon after the tragedy came to light.

‘Ed, love you my brother,’ he began. ‘You taught me so much over the years about everything that life could deal up. The good and the bad you were my teacher. You introduced us all to surfing, the joy and freedom of riding a wave.

‘The meaning of going to the ends of the earth to find waves to following a passion in the belief that surfing could be that ultimate job. As the years went on you would fall in and out of the ocean but your pure talent would always shine through.

‘To where you ended up in teaching kids the joy of riding a wave. With out you I’m not sure what the world would of made of me so Thank you.

‘Ed you had the biggest heart and were too loyal for your own good. Always sticking up for the underdog and caring for those who needed help. You gave everyone everything you had, and if you didn’t have it you’d still give it to them.’ 

Fanning paid tribute to his brother in emotional scenes at the Greenmount Surf Club on the Gold Coast on April 6 – just two days after his daughter was born.

At the service, Mick told a story how Ed had played air guitar at a school concert, miming to the 1985 Dire Straits song Money for Nothing.

He joked that the song’s lyrics of getting ‘money for nothing and your chicks for free’ became Ed’s theme song throughout his life.

Ed regularly raided Mick’s wardrobe and boardroom for free clothes and surfboards, he said.

Mick said his brother loved a beer and he always feared that he would one day get a call that Ed had drunk ‘his last schooner’.

That call came last month, but Mick said Ed was in his ‘happy place’ in Madagascar after moving there in 2020 to teach surfing to both locals and tourists.

When Xander was born, Fanning shared the news in a social media post written from the newborn’s perspective.

‘I’m extremely strong, healthy and calm all because of my beautiful Mama Breeana is a full-on superhero,’ read the caption.

‘Mama was so calm, relaxed and in the zone. Dada calls her his Zen Wonder Woman and is so in awe of how strong and amazing she is,’ it continued.

‘Dada thought he could focus but he’s got nothing on Mama. She rules. Dada loves you beyond words.’

Fanning and Randall’s romance came to light in December 2017 when he and the American model and humanitarian were spotted on a Gold Coast beach almost two years after his split with ex-wife Karissa Dalton.

Randall, who did some modeling work in America, studied to be a speech-language pathologist at Chapman University.

During her studies she spent time doing humanitarian work in the Philippines.