Diana? Alice? Elizabeth? Britons bet on royal baby name

LONDON: Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, may be keeping plans about their impending baby under wraps, but that hasn’t stopped everyone from trying to guess the gender and the name of their first child.

If Britain’s bookmakers are to be believed, it’s definitely a girl.

The William Hill agency closed the betting on the baby’s gender a few days ago after an “avalanche” of bets poured in from people convinced the royal couple is having a girl.

“The secret’s out, as far as we’re concerned,” firm spokesman Rupert Adams said. “It could be because someone somewhere has seen the scan, or heard something.”

While Adams acknowledged there’s always a chance the surge was based on nothing, he said average betting patterns over the years suggest there’s usually some truth in rumours.

So far, Diana is topping the bookmakers’ list as a front-running name – William Hill has put the odds at 4/1. Victoria, Alice, Grace and Elizabeth are close behind, while Albert, Arthur and James are popular guesses for a boy.

Adams said he personally doubts Harry would choose a name that so directly evokes his iconic mother’s tragic death in 1997 but added: “There’s every chance of it being a middle name.”

Carolyn Harris, a royal historian at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies, said that “the choice of Diana as a first name would place a lot of pressure on the royal baby, as the press would constantly compare her to her famous grandmother”.

Some observers speculate that Meghan, who has long spoken out about women’s rights, could go for a name that evokes strong women in history. — AP

Carolyn Harris The choice of Diana as a first name would place a lot of pressure on the royal baby, as the press would constantly compare her to her famous grandmother.