From whose family will baby’s name be drawn?
THE QUESTION of a name for the Royal baby will keep pundits and punters alike guessing for the next six months.
The youngster will be born into a family which holds tradition at its very heart. Yet this is a branch of the Windsors that has defied convention.
While Meghan has immersed herself in Royal life, she also has an American heritage from which to draw, as well as a previous life as a television actress.
If she and Harry choose a classic name, Alice, Mary, Elizabeth or Victoria are possibilities for a girl, and Philip, Frederick, Charles, Arthur, Edward or James for a boy.
But the pair may decide to confound everyone come the spring – following the precedent set by Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips and his Canadian wife, Autumn, who opted for the name Savannah for the Queen’s first greatgrandchild, in 2010.
Harry and Meghan’s baby, who will be seventh in line, is extremely unlikely ever to be king or queen, meaning the couple will have more freedom with their choices.
One option, considered a favourite for a girl, is Diana, in honour of Harry’s beloved mother.
William and Kate paid tribute to the late Princess of Wales in 2015 by choosing it as one of Charlotte’s middle names. Harry was just 12 when Diana was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997.
Meghan, who is the first mixed-race person in modern history to marry a senior British royal, has written about the significance of choosing names within her own family.
Her great-great-greatgrandfather went on to create his own identity when freed from slavery.
“In 1865 (which is so shatteringly recent), when slavery was abolished in the United States, former slaves had to choose a name. A surname, to be exact,” she wrote.
“He chose the last name Wisdom.”
Among bookmakers, Diana, Victoria and Alexander are all early favourites.
Rupert Adams, at William Hill, said: “We took eight bets in the first minute today. This could be bigger than the original market we had for Prince George.”