Meet Prince Louis! Kate Middleton and Prince William name their royal baby

Elise Solé

Meet Prince Louis Arthur Charles! The son of Kate Middleton and Prince William has been named, according to an announcement from Kensington Palace. (And yes, people have been sharing their hilarious reactions.)

Weighing 8 pounds and 7 ounces, the baby was born on Monday at St. Mary’s Hospital in London and introduced to the world only hours later, when the royal couple stood outside for a photo op.

“What’s interesting about this name choice is that it’s heavily influenced by the boy’s grandfather Prince Charles,” Linda Rosenkrantz, co-founder of Nameberry, tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

Louis is not a traditional English name, nor a particularly royal one (Louis VIII of France claimed the title of King of England from 1216 to 1217, though he was never formally crowned and ultimately surrendered the dubious claim). However, it is the moniker of Charles’s mentor and William’s great-great-uncle Louis Mountbatten, who was killed by the Irish Republican Army in 1979.

What’s more, both Louis and Arthur are part of Prince William’s full name: William Arthur Philip Louis. Meanwhile, Louis’s big brother Prince George is George Alexander Louis.

“Arthur is also interesting because while it’s not a royal name, it has noble overtones and conjures images of Camelot and chivalry,” adds Rosenkrantz. Arthur was always a popular choice — according to Vogue, Prince Charles wanted to name his first son Arthur but Diana, Princess of Wales, nixed the idea.

And Charles, of course, is a direct nod to the baby’s grandfather.

In the past, rumors have floated that Queen Elizabeth will name William as her successor, skipping over son Charles. However, according to People, that’s unlikely due to the queen’s limited power over the 1701 Act of Settlement, which guarantees Charles’s king status. However, it’s possible that due to William’s popularity — a recent poll found that more than half of Brits want him as their leader — he wants to further preserve his father’s legacy. Charles is also one of Prince Harry’s middle names.

Over the course of Middleton’s pregnancy, the world was split over whether the royal couple was expecting a boy or girl. Mary, Alice, Albert, and Arthur were top guesses among British bookkeepers.

Kate Middleton and Prince William have named their newborn son Louis. (Photo: Getty Images)
Kate Middleton and Prince William have named their newborn son Louis. (Photo: Getty Images)

On a few occasions, the royal couple had seemingly dropped hints about the sex of their unborn baby. For example, the U.K. Mirror reported that at a football game in April, William suggested that he wanted to name the baby after athlete Jack Grealish, saying, “I’m going to insist the baby is called Jack,” adding, “or Jackie.” And earlier in her pregnancy, when Middleton stepped out wearing a $2,100 hot pink Mulberry coat (which she wore twice while pregnant with Princess Charlotte), fans bet on a girl.

According to E!, however, the royal couple chose to remain in the dark about the sex, so they most likely bestowed the name at the last minute. “William and Kate don’t know the sex of the baby so they’re rather looking forward to finding out,” a source told the site, pre-birth. “It’s very difficult to be totally prepared when you don’t know if it’s going to be a boy or a girl.”

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