The meaning behind Prince Louis' name

From Cosmopolitan

It was announced today that the baby boy the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to on Monday - her third child with Prince William - had been named Louis Arthur Charles.

The announcement came following an immense amount of speculation over what the little Prince would be called. According to bookmakers, Arthur, James and Alexander all seemed like likely choices, and after some v. serious investigative journalism, the Daily Mail were absolutely convinced it was Albert. Twitter, meanwhile, preferred to take more of a 'lol' approach to the guessing game.

But today all the speculation came to an end when Kensington Palace officially announced the full name of the young royal, who has been born fifth in line to the throne.

So what exactly are the meanings behind the new baby's names?

Let's start with Louis. For any non-royalists out there, now's a good time to remind you that the Duke and Duchess have already chosen Louis for one of their kids' names. Prince George was given the full name 'George Alexander Louis' following his birth in July 2013. The move to recycle names isn't particularly uncommon, given there's a fairly small pool of royal names to pick from in the first place.

When the Queen gave birth to her third child, Prince Edward, in February 1960, she and the Duke of Edinburgh named him 'Edward Antony Richard Louis'. When the monarch's fourth baby was born four years later, she and Prince Philip selected 'Andrew Albert Christian Edward' for him, reusing the 'Edward' they'd previously given their elder son.

And despite being of French and German origin (a casual 18 French Kings have had the name), Louis is actually an incredibly common name for British royalty. Along with Prince George, Prince William also has the name as one of his three middle names, having been christened 'William Arthur Philip Louis'.

According to baby-naming site Nameberry, Louis was the name of Prince Charles’ mentor Louis Mountbatten, and means "renowned warrior". Just the kind of sentiment you want for a new Prince.

Congratulations to William and Kate for giving their new son a strong name (and for finally putting us all out of our misery by announcing it).

Follow Cat on Instagram.

You Might Also Like

• The highest paying jobs you can get without a degree

• 25 celebs who've gone to prom with fans

• What do the Snapchat emojis mean?