Prince William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

Very happy news for the Cambridges and the Royal Family.....  I am glad that all the speculation over the months has ceased now and we can get on with concrete facts - hopefully!!!

Are we now putting our hats in the ring - name wise - - OK here's mine:
Philippa for a girl - to honour Prince Philip;  and Queen Philippa, consort of Edward III;  and Philippa, who married a Portuguese king centuries ago...
James for a boy - to honour Scotland.

Larry

[TimM]

Philippa would also honour Kate's sister, Pippa (her real name is Philippa).

[grandduchessella]

Hi,

Very happy news for the Cambridges and the Royal Family.....  I am glad that all the speculation over the months has ceased now and we can get on with concrete facts - hopefully!!!

Are we now putting our hats in the ring - name wise - - OK here's mine:
Philippa for a girl - to honour Prince Philip;  and Queen Philippa, consort of Edward III;  and Philippa, who married a Portuguese king centuries ago...
James for a boy - to honour Scotland.

Larry

Pippa Middleton's name is actually Philippa. I don't see it being a first name for the baby though.

I had put out James for one of the names, again, I don't think it will be a first name though it's one of my faves. Kate Middleton's brother's name is James as well. Since the couple met in Scotland at University, it would be a nice touch.

I'm going with:

girl--Victoria Elizabeth Diana [one other name--maybe Mary, Charlotte, Caroline or Philippa]
boy--George William Charles and a toss-up between Michael, James and Henry

There are actually a lot of good names floating around the couple in both of their families.

[RoyalWatcher]

Baby name fun! Okay, I'll chime in...

Girl: Charlotte Elizabeth Diana Carole

Boy: Arthur George Charles Michael

[LisaG]

I also thought Charlotte and/or Arthur!

Isn't Prince Edward's son named James? They can't have two Jameses.  My wish would be John, if only to break the "curse."

[grandduchessella]

Great minds think alike Royal Watcher.

I think James could sneak in as a first name but, yes, Edward's son is James. But he will eventually be James, WhateverTheTitleIsThen whereas this would be a Prince James so it could be done. I mean, EII's father didn't mind becoming George VI even though he had a brother George.

I wonder if Albert might make another appearance. Or Alexandra.

[grandduchessella]

So the parents:

Catherine Elizabeth and William Arthur Philip Louis

The Aunt & Uncles:

Henry Charles Albert David (Harry)
Philippa Charlotte (Pippa)
James William

The grandparents:

Carole Elizabeth & Michael Francis and Diana Frances & Charles Philip Arthur George

Great-Grandparents:

Peter Francis and Valerie (Michael Middleton's parents) & Ronald John James and Dorothy (Carole's parents)
Edward John and Frances Ruth (Diana's parents) & Elizabeth Alexandra Mary and Philip (Charles's parents)

Some Great-great-grandparents:
Victoria Alice Elisabeth Julie Marie & Andrew (Philip)
Albert Frederick Arthur George & Elizabeth Angela Marguerite (Elizabeth)
Albert Edward John & Cynthia Elinor Beatrix (Earl Spencer)
Edmund Maurice & Ruth Sylvia (Countess Spencer)
Richard Noel & Olivia Christiana (Peter Middleton)
Frederick George & Constance (Valerie Middleton)
Stephen Charles & Edith Eliza (Ronald Goldsmith)
Thomas & (Dorothy Goldsmith)

[Jen_94]

grandduchessella, I really like the name Alexandra too. I also like Victoria for aswell. Victoria Elizabeth? So many possibilities! For a boy, I quite like James, but then again, it is the same of Edward and Sophie's son. I quite like the name George.

Just have a feeling Elizabeth will be in the name somewhere if the first child is a girl.

Girl: Alexandra Rose or Victoria Elizabeth Diana
Boy: George Phillip Charles? (Haven't really thought about this one)

RoyalWatcher, I do like your name ideas!

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

Thank you Ella for all the various names of the relations.

I actually like Thomas and Dorothy too as different names for royalty.

And then of course, there's also Raine!!!!  Ha, ha........

Larry

[grandduchessella]

Somehow I don't think Raine will make the cut. LOL

More tangential relations's names:

Alexandra--Queen Alexandra, Princess Alexandra (Mrs Angus Ogilvy) of Kent, Empress Alexandra, Duchess of Fife
Mary (or Marie)--Queen Mary, the Duchess of Teck, one of Elizabeth II's names
Louise--Princess Royal, Duchess of Argyll, Queen Louise of Sweden [but the name of Edward's daughter]
Margaret/Margarita--Countess of Snowdon and Crown Princess of Sweden (born a British princess), Margarita Armstrong-Jones, Philip's sister Margarita
Sarah--Sarah Armstrong-Jones [but I think the Fergie connection dooms it anyway!]
Anthony--Anthony Armstrong Jones
Marina--the late Duchess of Kent
James--besides Kate's brother, also James Ogilvy
Helen (or Helene, Helena or Ellen)--Helen Taylor, Queen Victoria's daughter, Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, Princess Nicholas & Queen Mother Helen of Romania (both Greeks)
Anne--the Princess Royal
Nicholas--Prince Nicholas of Greece, Nicholas (Duke of Kent's son)
Sophie/Sophia--Sophie Wessex, Queens Sophie of Greece and Sophia of Spain and Philip's sister Sophie
Cecilie--Philip's sister and the Queen Mother's mother's middle name [this is actually one of my favorite names ]
Rose--Rose Gloucester and Princess Margaret's middle name
Maud--Queen of Norway, Countess of Southesk


Catherine/Katherine is not only Kate's name but the Duchess of Kent's as well.

Victoria is still my pick for a girl-- Victoria is not only the name of a great Queen (with so many parallel's to EII) but also the name of Philip's grandmother.

George is still my pick for a boy--there's George V, George VI and rumors Charles could go with the name as well when he becomes King; George Kent; George I of the Hellenes (William's great-great-grandfather), it's been one of the names for many of the male royals; St George, the patron saint of England; and the nice call-back to the last Duke of Cambridge

The Windsor's do like their throw-back names--Andrew has Beatrice and Eugenie, Edward has Louise and James. Anne was the only rebellious one. And that's continued with Peter's children--Savannah and Isla. Anne's name was itself pretty traditonal--Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise. I don't know why they picked Anne but Elizabeth (mother & grandmother), Alice (grandmother) and Louise (great-aunt) were pretty obvious choices.

[grandduchessella]

The cabinet announced that regardless of the sex of the child it would follow it's father in the line of succession.  King George's Letters Patent state that The Eldest son of the Eldest SON of the Prince of Wales would be entitled to HRH otherwise if its a girl it would be Lady ********* Windsor.  I'm pretty sure though that HM would issue new Letters Patent IMO

Marlene had more on her blog today:

"The British government "has received consent from the Commonwealth realms to 'press ahead legislation" to change the succession laws to the British crown. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who is responsible for overseeing these changes said today:

"It is a wonderful coincidence that the final confirmation from the other realms arrived on the very day that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made their announcement. The Government will soon introduce the Succession to the Crown Bill which will make our old fashioned rules fit for the 21st Century. It will write down in law what we agreed back in 2011 – that if the Duke and Duchess Cambridge have a baby girl, she can one day be our Queen even if she later has younger brothers."

...Apart from gender equality, and the removal of the loss of succession rights for those who marry Roman Catholics, the actual legislation has not been made public. We do know that the Act of Settlement will be superseded by the new law.  It also possible that the succession to the throne will be limited to a smaller group of people, perhaps the descendants of George VI or even Queen Elizabeth II."

The full article including some interesting bits about future titles--would the daughter be Princess of Wales eventually? Also, the fact that the anti-Catholic requirement would be scrapped, although not for the Sovereign himself/herself, obviously. And that the Act of Settlement would be scrapped with the loss of many, many dynasts:

http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2012/12/legislating-succession.html

Marlene is really the Queen (no pun intended!) of these kinds of details.

[Alixz]

They don't really need to pick four names.

But it is good that the royals stopped doing the five and six name thing in the early 20th century.

I would bet on Elizabeth and Diana (in what ever order) along with Mary or Victoria or both? Especially if the law changes and the baby girl will be the heir. Elizabeth Victoria Diana Mary (May)

I know that Queen Victoria had a son Arthur, but I have yet to figure out why so many royal sons also carry the name except that it does to go to the legendary Arthur

Does William have any favorite uncles as Charles did in Louis Mountbatten? The first name for a son would be up in the air, but I would bet on Charles and Phillip and either Michael or James being in there. Maybe even John for Diana's father. They seemed to have dropped the ubiquitous Albert.

QEII was named after her mother Elizabeth and Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary - odd since when she was born no one knew that she would be queen.

It looks like Margaret Rose came from her mother's name Marguerite but no info on the Rose. Anyone?

[TimM]

It's about time that this "men first" law was scrapped.  Our current Queen, as well as Victoria and Elizabeth I, has shown that a woman is just as capable of doing the job as a man is.  So if William and Kate's first child is a girl, she has every right to be first in line to the throne.

[Alixz]

I heard on the news today that some dumb Australian Radio Station host, called the hospital and pretended to the the Queen (like the Queen would call the hospital on an unsecured line).

The radio host pretending to be the Queen said, "This is the Queen, I want to get some information on my darling Kate and her "tummy".

Pleassse! How could anyone working for that hospital fall for that!  But they did and gave out information on the Duchess's health!

The hospital employee is just as dumb as the Australian Radio Show host!

[Grace]

It looks like Margaret Rose came from her mother's name Marguerite but no info on the Rose. Anyone?

Supposedly, she was given the second name Rose simply because her parents liked the name and thought it went well with Margaret.  The new baby's grandfather didn't like it.