Princess Charlotte has a certain ring to it. Or how about Princess Alice?
Britain's newborn princess has spent her first night at home in London's Kensington Palace, but the guessing game continues over what her name will be. It's possible she will be named Sunday by her parents, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, but there's no fixed timetable for the announcement.
Meanwhile, Britain's legal bookmakers have been busy taking in thousands of bets for the baby's name. For weeks, they have been saying that Alice is the clear favorite. But in recent days Charlotte, the feminine form of Charles, has become the front runner.
Other top possibilities included Olivia, Victoria, Elizabeth, Alexandra and Diana, the name of William's late mother.
The newborn may herald a new generation in the monarchy, but it is customary for royals to look to their past for name ideas. The repetition of names in each generation is at least partly an effort to preserve the continuity of one of the world's oldest institutions.
As for Alice: Queen Victoria named her second daughter Princess Alice, who was the great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Philip. Her granddaughter, also called Alice, was Philip's mother.
Many think it is likely that William and Kate would use the name Diana — though probably as one of the baby's middle names. Like most royals, the baby's brother Prince George has more than one middle name (George Alexander Louis), and the same treatment is expected for her.
When George was born in 2013, the royal couple took two days to reveal his name, waiting until after the queen had met her new great-grandson.
William and Kate introduced the baby princess Saturday evening to the world, just 12 hours after Kate checked into London's St. Mary's Hospital to give birth. The baby weighed in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces (3.7 kilograms).
William's father and stepmother, Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, went to Kensington Palace on Sunday to visit the baby for the first time, joining Kate's mother Carole Middleton and her sister Pippa.
The royal couple is expected to spend several days at their London home before traveling to their country home on the queen's sprawling Sandringham estate, 190 kilometers north of London. The family is likely to stay out of the public eye in the coming days.
The princess's birth has mesmerized much of Britain, eclipsing the country's hard-fought election campaign on the front pages of British newspapers. A number of London landmarks including Tower Bridge were lit in pink overnight to commemorate her birth.
