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Royal baby name "rubbish" swept aside

As expected, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's announcement of their daughter's birth and name has sparked a wave of coverage around the world.

However, 9Honey's royal columnist Victoria Arbiter has pointed out that not all of it is accurate, particularly with regard to royal naming traditions and how much influence the Queen has over her descendants' names.

Arbiter has addressed three particular mistruths surrounding baby Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor's arrival on Twitter.

"No, there is not a 'roster' of names from which royals are expected to pick," she wrote, referring to a common but erroneous belief.

Royals usually name their babies after the ones who came before them, like Harry and Meghan who named their daughter after the Queen and Princess Diana, and Prince William and Kate have with their three children.

However, they aren't restricted to using their predecessors' names.

Many of the names chosen for younger members of the family - and further down the line of succession - including Savannah, Isla, Archie and even Zara, have been more modern.

This leads into Arbiter's next point: "The Queen gives her blessing, not 'permission'. She's not a dictator."

Royal couples run their chosen baby names by Queen Elizabeth, and she's often the first in the family to hear them, but ultimately the choice is the parents'.

Tags:
baby, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, daughter