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Princess Alice? Prince James? When it comes to royal baby’s name, all bets are on!

Will Prince George soon have a baby sister? Bookies say yes! (Photo by Anwar Hussein/WireImage)
Will Prince George soon have a baby sister? Bookies say yes! (Photo by Anwar Hussein/WireImage)

With royal baby no.2 due any day now — the rumoured due date is between April 23 and 25 — baby-name betting is in full swing.

And this time, 90 per cent of the bets are counting on a princess.

Royal officials insist that Will and Kate don’t know the gender of their unborn child, although the recent arrival of pink paint samples to the Duke and Duchess’s home has everyone suspecting that the expectant parents are also counting on a little girl.

(Apparently William wanted a girl the first time around. Maybe he’ll get his wish this time?)

If the birth announcement erected in front of Buckingham Palace does celebrate the arrival of a female “spare” to the throne, royal watchers will still have to wait for the formal name announcement.

If you’re a betting man (or woman), here are current name frontrunners, according to bookmaker William Hill.

GIRL:

Alice (Odds: 6/4)

Meaning: Noble

Charlotte was the favourite for months, then Alice suddenly shot ahead as the frontrunner. (Maybe someone heard Kate dishing on baby names at prenatal yoga? Or saw her reading Lewis Carroll?)

Last week, a Scottish punter put down a whopping £2,000 wager ($3,600 CAD) on the name.

Why Alice?

Like all the top names on the list, it has a royal pedigree: Queen Victoria named her second daughter Alice — who was a bit of a rebel and breastfed her baby — and that Alice had a granddaughter named Alice who had a son named Philip, otherwise known as Prince George’s great-grandfather.

Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Alice, and her family. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Alice, and her family. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth also has an aunt named Alice, giving the name connections to both sides of William’s family.

It’s also trendy. Classic, old-fashioned names are going strong, and Alice is no exception. Alice is currently the 22nd most popular girl’s name in Canada, the 27th in the U.K., and is about to enter the top 100 in the U.S.

(The name apparently got a huge boost from Tina Fey, who named her eldest daughter Alice in 2005. In the past four years, the name jumped from 258th to 107th, Nameberry reports.)

Elizabeth (Odds: 11/2)

Meaning: Pledged to God

Will Queen Elizabeth II have a granddaughter named in her honour? (Photo by Leon Neal - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Will Queen Elizabeth II have a granddaughter named in her honour? (Photo by Leon Neal - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

This classic, Biblical, and perma-popular name has been in the Top 20 in the United States and Canada for quite some time.

And with the Queen about to be celebrated as the longest-reigning monarch in British history, what better tribute could her eldest grandson pay her than to name his firstborn daughter in her honour?

"She's made the name respectable and interesting," Ninian Mellamphy, a long-time royal watcher and professor emeritus at Western University in London, Ontario, tells CBC News. "No one shortens it."

Elizabeth is also Kate’s middle name, making it an even more solid choice for a baby name that most likely will have plenty of family history.

Charlotte (Odds: 11/2)

Meaning: Free man

This feminine diminutive of Charles was once the hands-down favourite. Will it triumph in the end?

If chosen, the name would honour William’s father and Kate’s sister. It’s Pippa’s middle name.

This name has also benefitted from the “everything old is new again” naming trend — I know three Charlottes under the age of four — rapidly climbing the popularity charts.

Today’s Parent listed Charlotte as the fourth most popular girl’s name in Canada in 2014. In the U.K., the name sits in 21st place.

Note: The name was first made popular by Queen Charlotte Sophia, the wife of King George III and mother of a whopping 15 children. So while it has an impressive royal history, the whole Charlotte-George connection might be a little too creepy for some parents.

Victoria (Odds: 12/1)

Meaning: Victory

Victoria was the ancient goddess of Victory, a long-reigning queen, and a Spice Girl. Will this name make the cut?

A posh name for a posh baby? It could work. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)
A posh name for a posh baby? It could work. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)

A top-20 name 

in Canada, Victoria only sits in 88th place in the U.K., making it a less-heard-on-the-playground option for the Duke and Duchess. And with numerous royal Victorias before her, the princess would find herself in the well-named company of many great women.

Alexandra (Odds: 14/1)

Meaning: Defending men

Will and Kate named their son George Alexander Louis. Would they use the feminine form of Alexander for their daughter? Some betters believe they might.

Queen Elizabeth’s first middle name is Alexandra, and the name has a history with both British and Russian royalty.

It’s also the least common of the frontrunners in the U.K., not cracking the top-100 baby names.

(In Canada, the name is 57th. In the U.S., it’s 82nd.)

What about Diana?

The next most popular bet — a long shot, most experts would agree — is for Diana. (Likely not the most popular name with the Queen.)

Princess Diana with a pint-sized Prince William. (Getty Images)
Princess Diana with a pint-sized Prince William. (Getty Images)

"Being Princess Diana the younger would be an enormous amount of pressure on the young princess, and she would be continually compared to her late grandmother,” Carolyn Harris, a Toronto-based royal historian, tells CBC News.

BOY:

With the majority of the bets targeting girls’ names, the odds of the following are much lower, although bookies have dramatically slashed the odds for James, making it the fourth most popular choice (and most popular boys' name)

James (Odds: 8/1)

Meaning: Supplanter

We can understand why Will and Kate would want to keep the future heir from becoming King James — although he would have his own version of the Bible — but people are placing their bets on a prince with the timeless name. James is also the name of Kate’s brother.

 

James and Pippa Middleton (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)
James and Pippa Middleton (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)

A long-time favourite, the name currently sits in the top 20 boys’ name in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.While the name’s a classic, The Guardian discounted it as a real royal-baby-name option after George was born. Will the criticism still stand this time around?

“The present incumbents in Buckingham Palace owe their status to the displacement of the last James (James II, brother of Charles II) from the throne in 1688 because of his absolutist inclinations and open Roman Catholicism. For another half a century supporters of his and then his descendants' claim to the throne were called Jacobites, in echo of his name. His son proclaimed himself ‘James III’ and led an armed rebellion. The name seems even less likely as the new baby's father, Prince William, shares a name with the very man (William of Orange) who expelled James II. And there is always the memory of that pesky James Hewitt,” the Guardian’s John Mullan wrote after Prince George’s birth in 2013. (We’re assuming the Duke and Duchess paid attention in history class, so Mullan may have a good argument here.)

Arthur (Odds: 14/1)

Meaning: Bear

We didn’t get a (future) King Arthur. Maybe a prince?

Both William and Charles have Arthur as a middle name — and it belongs to Britain’s “most famous mythical king” — making it betters’ top pick for a prince’s name.

While the name is the 43rd most popular for boys in the U.K., it has yet to take off here. In the U.S., it isn’t quite in the top-300 names.

(Time for a comeback? We think so.)

The Telegraph points out that while the “solidly British” Arthur is “the Holy Grail of baby names,” there could be a problem, especially if the legend of King Arthur is true:

“[The] original King Arthur might be a bit miffed if he does come back from Avalon to find a Prince Arthur so close to the throne.”

Henry (Odds: 20/1)

Meaning: Estate ruler

Sure, the name is benefiting from the “old man names” resurgence — Henry is in the top 20 in the U.K., and in the top 50 in Canada and the U.S. — but would Will really name his second son after his brother?

We’ll have to wait until the end of the month to find out.

What about George?

Was there a sudden “baby George” boom after the birth of the Prince George? Not yet.

Photo by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge/PA Wire via Getty Images
Photo by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge/PA Wire via Getty Images

Consistently a top-20 choice in the U.K., the name didn’t really make waves on this side of the pond.

In Canada and the U.S., the name has yet to crack the top 100 in the 21st century, although the baby-naming experts at Nameberry believe the “friendly and unpretentious” name is “in prime position for a comeback.”

Only time will tell.

With (slightly) less hype surrounding baby no.2, parents might feel more comfortable using his/her name for their own little ones. Judging by recent naming trends, regardless of the baby’s name, we’re about to see a whole lot more Alices, Charlottes and Arthurs running around the schoolyard in the years to come.

There’s more!

Of course, Will and Kate could use a combination of some/all of the above. Because you can’t have just one middle name and be a member of the royal family.

What do you think Will and Kate will name their bundle of (royal) joy?