People have been placing bets on the name of the royal baby ever since the Duchess of Cambridge announced in September 2017 that she was pregnant with her third child.
Odds were slashed on the chances of it being a boy when Prince William reportedly said on April 12 after Jack Grealish scored in a soccer game for his beloved Aston Villa against Cardiff City that "I'm going to insist the baby is called Jack."
However, the BBC has reported that the couple does not know the sex of the baby, although bookmakers do appear to be favouring it being a girl.
According to William Hill, the best odds are on Alice at 4/1 and Mary at 11/2. Also popular is the name of the child's great-grandmother Elizabeth and the name of the longest-serving monarch before Queen Elizabeth II, Victoria—both at 6/1.
If Prince William had inadvertently let the cat out of the bag and the baby were to be called Jack, then punters would get a 9/1 return on their bet. However, it is not the most likely boys' name, with Arthur the male frontrunner at 4/1, with its mythical regal connotations of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
The names of the Cambridges' first son, George Louis Alexander, was a nod to former kings as well as Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India. Meanwhile, their daughter, Charlotte Elizabeth Diana referred to William's mother and grandmother.
Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, told the BBC that Queen is likely to be consulted and previous monarchs would sometimes even veto names they did not like, but there was no fixed protocol.
"It will probably be something we have heard attributed to a prince or princess before. It's quite likely to follow the traditional route that William and Kate seem to favour," said Little.
One of the more unusual names to emerge in recent years was that of the Queen's first granddaughter, Zara, which had never been used before and means 'star' or 'flower' in Arabic.
So far this year, the top baby names for boys are Liam, Logan and Oliver, while for girls, they are Emma, Olivia and Eva, but no one is anticipating these to be among the options considered.
"Tradition plays a huge part in the British Royal Family, even in the 21st Century," Little said. And traditionalists may also be reassured that the odds being offered on the names Waynetta, Posh and Chardonnay are at a distant 500/1.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
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