The 34-year-old, whose husband is investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, tweeted the news to her 624,000 followers shortly after midnight Saturday - four days before the expected due date.

    She said: "Marc and I are full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky."

    The baby is the first grandchild of Bill and Hillary Clinton, who have gushed at length about their excitement at a number of public speaking events in the past few months, and both retweeted their daughter's post.

    Chelsea was last seen Wednesday afternoon at the annual Clinton Global Initiative summit in New York's Sheraton Hotel.

    Despite resigning from her position as a specialist reporter for NBC in April, the former first daughter, who was educated at Stanford, Oxford and Columbia universities, continued to work full-time for the Clinton Foundation up until she gave birth.

    News of the birth is welcome to supporters of Hillary Clinton running for president since the former first lady said she would wait until she became a grandmother before launching a second bid for the nomination.

    Tuesday, Chelsea appeared on CNN with her growing baby bump as she revealed they had decided not to find out the gender of their first child until the birth as they wanted it to be a surprise.

    "There are so few mysteries in life...any answer is a happy one," Clinton told CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Tuesday.

    "So my husband and I decided that we would enjoy this mystery for the nine-plus months that we're granted, and we are eager to find out what God will have given us."

    The name Charlotte dates back to the 1700s, and means "freedom."

    It has long been a favorite among royals and political dynasties, and last year it was the 11th most popular girl names in the United States.

    Words to Learn 相关词汇        

    预产期

    yùchǎnqī

    due date

    the date on which something is planned or expected to happen, for example, when money must be paid or when a pregnant woman expects to have her baby

    王朝

    wángcháo

    dynasty

    a succession of powerful leaders all from the same family

    切尔西迎来女儿

    现年34岁的切尔西周六凌晨通过推特向她的624000个粉丝发布了这条新闻--女儿降生比预产期提前了四天。她的丈夫是投资银行家马克?梅兹文斯基。

    她说：“我们的女儿，夏洛特?克林顿?梅兹文斯基，出生了！马克和我对此满怀爱意、敬畏和感激。”

    这是比尔?克林顿与希拉里的第一个外孙。过去几个月中，他们多次在公开演讲中对此激动地发表长篇大论，他们也转发了女儿这条推文。

    此前切尔西最后一次公开露面是在周三下午纽约喜来登酒店举行的一年一度的克林顿全球倡议峰会上。

    尽管四月已辞去美国全国广播公司的特聘记者职务，这位斯坦福、牛津和哥伦比亚大学毕业的前第一女儿在克林顿基金会继续全职工作，直到生产。

    孩子的出生对于支持希拉里竞选总统的民众是个好消息，因为前第一夫人曾说过，当上外祖母后她才会第二次参选。

    周二，切尔西挺着大肚上CNN的节目时说他们决定不问医生第一个孩子的性别，因为期待一个惊喜。

    “生活中神秘的事情太少了...男孩女孩都很好，”周二她对CNN的法里德·扎卡利亚说。

    "所以丈夫和我决定在九个多月的时间里享受这个秘密，现在我们急切地想知道上帝赐予我们什么。"

    “夏洛特”这个名字起源于18世纪，寓意是“自由”。

    在王室和政治世家，“夏洛特”一直是最钟爱的名字之一，去年在美国最受欢迎女孩名字排行榜上名列第十一。