A spokesman says French Justice Minister Rachida Dati has given birth to her first child - a baby girl named Zohra - at the age of 43, AP reported.
Justice Ministry spokesman Guillaume Didier says Dati gave birth in a Paris clinic on Friday, and both mother and child were doing well.
The single minister's pregnancy has stirred intense media speculation about the identity of the child's father. Dati has refused to name him.
Didier said on Saturday the minister would take only a short break before returning to work. Dati, a close ally of President Nicolas Sarkozy during his 2007 election campaign, has come under fire from lawyers for pushing through a series of reforms of the judicial system in France.