Are there rules that have to be followed when naming a royal baby?

Darren Frost, Bristol AThere are plenty of conventions

and traditions at stake, not to mention the weight of the past, for the British family that knows more of its history than any other. The Queen also wields a de facto right of veto over names that she might disapprove of.

A prince or princess likely to succeed to the throne needs to be called something traditional, dignified and British. When the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a son in 2013, the name George was the bookies’ favourite, and they were right. Almost all male forenames also reference parents, grandparents or other previous royals (such as Charles, Albert, William, Philip, Arthur or Edward), though more foreign-sounding Hanoverian forebears are out of fashion. Louis (as in Mountbatten) often now features as a second, third or fourth name, but is unlikely to be an heir’s first name, because of its French overtones.

Some names are unlikely to appear. John is said to be considered unlucky, and you’ll wait a long time for a Prince Oliver because of the man who cut off Charles I’s head. You’ll never get a name that would be seen to open the monarchy to ridicule; the bookies would pay very handsomely indeed if any baby close to the throne were to be named Chardonnay, Tyson or Wayne.

Things are more relaxed for babies at a distance from the succession, but even here tradition exerts itself. Princess Eugenie of York was supposedly named after Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (later queen of Spain), daughter of Princess Beatrice, Victoria’s youngest daughter. One of the most exotically named royals is probably Zara (Tindall, née Phillips), Princess Anne’s daughter, whose name is said to have been suggested by her uncle, Prince Charles.

Monarchs can always take a regnal name, such as Albert, Duke of York, who assumed the name George (VI).

The rules surrounding royal style and titles require a Stephen Hawkingsized intellect to understand. As with so many royal ‘traditions’, these are of more recent vintage than you might think, many dating back to the First World War and the upheavals behind the scenes, because of the family’s German connections.