Will and Kate are having another baby. The internet is already atwitter with predictions for names, like last time:
Royal Baby’s Name and Sex: Bookmakers Taking Bets
Royal Baby No. 2: The Internet Reacts with Jokes, Excitement and Plenty of Baby Names
The Royal Name Game: 10 Potential Names on Prince William and Kate Middleton’s List
What Should Prince William and Kate Middleton Name The Second Royal Baby? POLL
Kate Middleton’s Baby Name Predictions From the Expert Who Picked ‘George’
But, like last time, I just can’t get too into it. Royal baby naming is so different than regular baby naming, don’t you think? I mean, it seems that they only choose from a certain pool of names, which I’m not interested enough in to even figure out what that pool is. (So says the mom who won’t stray outside of Catholic saints when naming her children. But our pool is so large!) And they string so many names together, what with the four or five middle names (or, I guess, just two, as in the case of Prince George), all of which are meaningful to them, I know, but I don’t even really know what the criteria is that they use. It certainly doesn’t seem to be flow, at least to my ear (though I think Kate and Will did really well with the flow of George’s name). And again — I’m just not interested enough to figure out what formula, if any, they all use.
But, if I had to guess, I might think of these names (first names only) as befitting a brother or sister for Prince George Alexander Louis:
Charles, Francis, Philip
Elizabeth, Caroline or Charlotte, Jane
I personally always look to family names as one of my first places of inspiration, hence Charles (Will’s dad), Francis (Kate’s dad’s middle name), Elizabeth (Kate’s middle name, her mom’s middle name, and Will’s grandmother’s name), and Caroline/Charlotte (feminine form of Charles; Carole is also Kate’s mom’s first name, and Charlotte is her sister Pippa’s middle name). I also like my sib sets to go together, to feel similar in style, hence Philip (chosen at first because I know a little George who has a brother Philip, and then I realized it’s also a family name for Will — it’s his grandfather’s name, Queen Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip — and a family name for Kate — her sister Philippa/Pippa), and Jane (Jane Seymour, not the greatest association, but it’s British and royal, and I like it with George). I think Francis might be the outlier here — it doesn’t strike me as a royal British name — but I’m keeping it on there anyway.
For middles, I would look again to family — any of those I mentioned above would make good candidates, as would Diana (in fact, I’d be shocked if they didn’t use some part of Diana’s name somewhere for a little girl), Spencer (Diana’s maiden name), Michael (Kate’s dad’s first name). It was mentioned that the Scottish would be happy with George’s middle name of Alexander; perhaps Margaret would make a good contender for a middle for a girl for the same reason? (It’s “still considered the Scottish national name.”)
So. If it were me naming the sibling of big brother George Alexander Louis, I’d choose:
Philip Spencer Francis
Caroline Diana Margaret
I didn’t read any of the articles I cited above before making my picks, and now that I’m perusing them … I see Philip, Caroline, Diana, Elizabeth, Charles, Charlotte from my lists; others mentioned include James and Victoria. Ok, I didn’t do too badly picking names that a royal might choose! The only picks of mine that I don’t see mentioned are Spencer, Margaret, Francis, and Jane.
And I’ll also throw out a gender prediction: I’m guessing boy, since Kate is sick like last time (prayers for her! Hyperemesis gravidarum sounds like the very Pit of Despair), and all my pregnancies have been more or less the same in regards to level of sickness, and I’ve only had boys. Very scientific assessment, I know. Be sure to check back when the baby’s born to see how I did!
Sancta Nomina 