Royal baby names have not changed too much over the years but the most popular one may surprise you. When a royal couple reveal they are expecting a baby, commentators and bookies alike debate on what kind of name the parents might pick for their newborn child. It is hard to be original when picking a new baby name as there is a relatively small pool to choose from, particularly if they are more senior and that child will be high up the line of succession.
Some names such as Henry, which was once a go-to male royal baby name, have fallen out of favour, possibly because of King Henry VIII’s notorious reputation. Other names have remained timeless, and while more modern names such as Sienna and Lucas are beginning to make an appearance, others like Elizabeth and Edward have stuck around for centuries. The most popular baby name of the last 200 years however may come as a surprise to many as none of the current members of the Firm have it as a first name.
Travel experts Expedia carried out research to determine which were the ten most popular royal baby names for boy and girls since 1819, the year Queen Victoria was born. The six most popular names according to them were Edward and Mary, which were both used by seven different royals, then Charles on eight, Victoria on nine and George in second place as it has been a name for 10 different members of the family. But the most popular, having been picked as a name an impressive 12 times, was Albert, which is not a name commonly associated with our current Royal Family.
The most famous Albert during that time period was Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert, who had nine children together over the course of their devoted marriage. Their eldest two children were naturally named Victoria and Albert, although they were often referred to as Vicky and Bertie, who were later joined by their siblings Alice, Alfred, Helena, Louise, Arthur, Leopold and Beatrice. The name Victoria also appears to have fallen slightly out of use in royal circles, although Princess Eugenie has it as one of her middle names.
Non-working royals such as Eugenie and her older sister Princess Beatrice and their cousins Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall have picked more contemporary and unusual names for their children, likely due to them facing less pressure to pick something regal.
Prince William and Princess Kate meanwhile chose George, Charlotte and Louis for their offspring, although Kate reportedly did not get her first pick when it came to choosing a name for her eldest. She is said to have been keen for him to be called Alexander, which ended up being one of his middle names when he arrived in July 2013. Charlotte’s middle names are Elizabeth and Diana, touchingly after William’s grandmother and late mother, while Louis is named in honour of Lord Louis Mountbatten.
