The royals remain very traditional when it comes to learning about the gender of their baby. They wait for the birth to confirm the gender of the newborn, instead of doing an ultrasound.
Middleton followed the practice when she was expecting Prince George. However, according to royal correspondent Katie Nicholl of Vanity Fair, the duchess had an intuition that her firstborn would be a boy.
When they were waiting for Prince George’s arrival, most of the baby clothes and nursery furniture were in gender-neutral shades of cream except for the baby-blue carriage.
“When I saw William a few weeks before the birth he said they didn’t know [the baby’s gender] and didn’t want to find out,” a source told Nicholl.
“He said there are so few surprises in life—this was one he wanted to keep. Kate said she thought it was a boy because the baby kicked so much.”
Since Middleton believed she was expecting a boy, she set her heart on the name Alexander. At the time, they had not decided on the baby’s name yet.
Alexander ended up being one of Prince George’s middle names because the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge eventually decided to give him the royal name “George” as tribute to Queen Elizabeth II’s father, King George VI.
Prince William and Middleton gave their eldest son the name His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge.
The future king and queen consort encountered the same struggle when naming their second and third kids. There were also lots of betting for their babies’ names before the delivery and the palace’s official announcement.
In 2018, when Prince William and Middleton were still expecting Prince Louis, the top name was Alice and the runner-up was Albert. Alice has a special connection to Prince Philip because his mom is Princess Alice of Greece.
“Will and Kate have been keen to pay tribute to both sides of the family, so I would love to see Alice, which is undergoing a resurgence in terms of being cool,” said Victoria Arbiter, a CNN royal commentator. “And Prince Philip’s mother was quite an extraordinary woman, so it would be a lovely tribute.”
Apparently, they had a boy and ended up giving their third baby the name Louis. The announcement of Prince Louis’ name was delayed because at the time Prince Charles was in France and had not seen him immediately after birth. According to sources, Prince William and Middleton waited for Prince Charles before they announced Prince Louis’ name to the public.