Royal baby name predictions here please.

How about Kate's side of the family? Carol and Michael? Maybe their names will be saved for the younger children who are less likely to inherit the throne!

I think they will go for a traditional names and if they have a girl, maybe include the name Diana too.

Queen Victoria dictated that all royal babies must include Albert (obviously for a boy) or Victoria (obviously for a girl) among their names. George VI was the last one for whom this was done; the poor devil had the misfortune to be born on the anniversary of the Prince Consort's death. The Queen Mother broke with tradition - including the presence of a minister of the government at the birth (when Princess Margaret was born).

I think if it's a boy Albert or Arthur may be there. Victoria or Alexandra?

I think William was named after the Duke of Gloucester's older brother, William who was killed in a plane crash. Apparently Prince Charles was close to him.

BagsPrince Edward has a daughter called Louise and a son called James so I think we can exclude Louise or James for the forthcoming baby.

The Norman invasion was an absolute disaster for the people of Britain, particularly in the North, where the Norman invaders laid waste to the territory, and there was a genocidal loss of life. William had bribed nobles to join in his invasion, with the promise of lands, which they took by force. The locals lost everything.

Even as late as the late 1950s, when I was doing history at school, we were taught the Normans civilised Britain. Well, they didn't. They gave us better weaponry, and introduced a system of harsh rulers and powerless peasants. Later research has changed the perceptions

Yes, I love the way our language is a hybrid of Norman French and Anglo Saxon Germanic, but I hate the way it happened.

And I don't care for the name William.

Bags

Edward has daughters!?? Well, I'll be...

Adolf or Eva for an outsider bet? Kevin or Fifi?

Hells Bells Joan that's a long time to hold a grudge .

anno Isn't Prince Edwards daughter called Louise?

Maud or Arthur

Intrigued by your comment about William the Conqueror, Joan. Why particularly? I realise you probably mean the years of Anglo-French wars, but wouldn't something similar have happened anyway?
I think the English language would be infinitely poorer without the French words that came with the Normans.

What about Clement (after Atlee) or Barbara after (Castle)

I suppose the name is a bit political, really. I was peeved when William got his name, because I have never forgiven William of Normandy for 1066 and the hundreds of years of misery that followed.

I like James: it is the name of my eldest lad. I would think they will go for real names, not modern made-up ones with weird spellings. Elisabeth would be a safe bet.

Princess Anne has Louise as one of her names - as well as Elizabeth and Alice.

Victoria's daughter, Princess Louise, married the Duke of Argyll. Louise is allright. Victoria would be allright if it didn't remind one of the Beckham pout.

I hope they avoid any of the previous English Monarch's names so that we don't have the arguments we had with Elizabeth - II in England but the first Elizabeth, Queen of Scots. Victoria would be fine (II throughout the UK) but please not Edward (Hammer of the Scots) or Henry (IX in England but just Henry, King of Scots in Scotland). All this is of course hypothetical - there may not be a monarchy by the time this child inherits from his/her father - hopefully some 60 years into the future.

Poor things. It's bad enough for new parents to have all the relatives & friends speculating, never mind the wider world. How about Boudicca/Boadicea? - Matilda was a pretty fiery woman too.

Maybe Diana for one of the middle names, but Alexandra,Victoria, Elizabeth are the usual suspects. Edward,James, Henry, Albert or Arthur if the baby is a boy. As long as they don't give it a name like the one chosen for Peter Phillips baby - Savannah - then we are in trouble as we could get all the silly names.

Better steer away from Blodwen... hasn't that been used before I think one of the 'code names' for Camilla was something like that!

Royal first borns called Arthur have a bad record of not surviving child hood. Its a nice name though!

How about something sort of Scottish, bearing in mind that they met at university in St Andrews? Neil, Graeme, Alistair, Iain, Fraser or Andrew for a boy; Kirsten, Isobel, Lindsay or Heather for a girl? All good solid traditional names. What about Princess Fiona - now there's a good Scottish name!! Can't see them using it though....

I've got an actual cold hard cash bet on Matilda, Gally! And a whole English pound each on Arthur, Albert, Alfred and Frederick, all temptingly long odds.

Iam64, Diana's middle name was Frances - this is my daughter's name and I love it of course - it's very aristocratic too, but I don't think it scans well with Princess....

How about going back to the real old names - Ethelbert, Aethelflaed, Friedeswide or even, given Aethel means 'well born' or 'royal', just plain Ethel.