The royal baby has a name!

After days of waiting (and plenty of betting) the world now knows what to call the royal baby.

On Friday morning Kensington Palace announced he is to be called Prince Louis Arthur Charles.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their son Louis Arthur Charles.… https://t.co/OXOFqHqdlk

— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal)
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The first name Louis was not a top contender among British baby name betters in the days before the announcement, when names like Albert, Arthur and Alexander were bandied about. Let’s look into the details on this surprise pick and the princes’ other names.

Louis

Pronounced Lou-ee, the first name came as a bit of a shocker to royal watchers as it was not anywhere near the top of the list of names British gamblers had been placing bets on for months. While names like Albert and Philip (more on those later) have a long history within the British monarchy, Louis is more of a French name. It’s perhaps a nod to the Duke of Edinburgh’s uncle, Louis Mountbatten, who died in 1979, but also the Prince’s father, whose full name is William Arthur Philip Louis.

Arthur

Like we said, Arthur is dad Prince William’s second name, and the third name for the royal baby’s grandfather, who was officially dubbed Prince Charles Philip Arthur George. It has a long and rich tradition within the royal family. With ties to Camelot, this name calls to mind the king who headed the Round Table, but with ties to a young, selfie-taking royal cousin, it makes sense the Duke and Duchess didn’t give this name the first slot.

The Duke’s second cousin, 19-year-old Arthur Chatto, who is known for posting shirtless selfies on Instagram. So while the Queen’s father also carried the name, her grand nephew may have made it less appealing as a first name for a family that likes to keep their own Instagram presence quite buttoned up.

Charles

Adding this name was a sweet way to honor the Duke’s father and Prince Louis’ grandfather, Prince Charles. It was incredibly popular in the 1880s, but not so much in modern times. There have been two British monarchs to carry this name. If Prince Charles ever takes the throne he would be King Charles III.

Names that didn’t make the cut

Albert

A popular name in both the royal family and the UK itself (where it was among the top 100 boys names in 2017) Albert makes total sense for this little prince. With each of their older children the Duke and Duchess chose names that were royal, and yet pretty common among today’s children, and Albert follows suit (at least in the UK, stateside Albert has fallen down the chart in recent years, and is more than 370 spots away from ranking in the top 100).

Queen Victoria would probably be quite displeased pleased with today’s pick, as she wanted all male descendants to carry on her beloved Albert’s name.

“Of course you will add Albert at the end, like your brothers, as you know we [Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort] settled long ago that all dearest Papa’s male English descendants should bear that name, to mark our line,” she wrote to her oldest son after his second child’s birth.

James

It would have been a nice nod to the Duchess’ side of the family as her brother is called James Middleton, but James also has royal roots. King James liked to call himself the King of Great Britain, as he was the King of Scotland before becoming the King of England as well. He took the first throne when he was hardly old enough to sit up in it, just a year old. The Duchess’ brother-in-law, Pippa Middleton’s husband, is a James a well. With two uncles named James, maybe it’s best the royal baby isn’t one as future family dinners with the Middletons could get confusing.

Jack

Another one that was probably never a serious contender, but betters did latch onto the name after Prince William joked that he wanted to name the baby after one of his favorite soccer players, Aston Villa Jack Grealish.

“I’m going to insist the baby is called Jack,” he teased earlier this month after Grealish made good during a clutch championship match.

As cute as the name Jack is, it’s just not super royal. Although it’s now commonly used as a given name (so commonly that it’s among the most popular baby names in the UK), it’s traditionally a diminutive for John, so not quite fitting of the formality a royal birth certificate requires.

Philip

A family name that’s part of dad’s and grandfather Prince Charles’ full monikers, the name Philip honors their grandfather and father, respectively, the Queen’s 96-year-old husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. He is the longest-serving British consort, and by many accounts the love of the Queen’s life.

Henry

Another great and royal name, Henry is of course Prince Harry’s real name (his full name is Henry Charles Albert David). Back when Prince Harry was born in 1984 the palace announced his official name and added that he’d be known as ” just ‘Harry’ to his family and chums’, People reported. Apparently, everyone in the world considered themselves a ‘chum’ to the ginger baby, because hardly anyone has called him Henry ever since.

Perhaps his nephew will end up going to a nickname, too. Lou is cute.

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