royal wedding celebration

With only six weeks remaining until the christening of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary’s adorable twins [view their official photos], I’ve been weighing their baby name choices in case they log on to the Princess Palace looking for ideas. On April 14, the names of the little prince and princess will finally be announced, so here are some names to consider:

Family Names

It’s possible, the little prince could be named John, in honor of his maternal grandfather, but unlikely to be named Henrik in honor of his paternal grandfather since Frederik’s brother Prince Joachim gave that name to his third son last year. They might also choose to step back one more generation and select Andre for Frederik’s French grandfather, Count Andre de Laborde de Monpezat or Peter for Mary’s Scottish grandfather, Peter Donaldson. Henri and John, however, are already among the names given to the couple’s firstborn child, Prince Christian Valdemar Henri John.

For the little princess, the most likely family names might be Margrethe for Frederik’s mother the Queen, Ingrid for Margrethe’s mother or Henrietta for Mary’s late mother. However, Frederik and Mary gave all of these names to their first daughter Princess Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe, so maybe not. Since the royal family recently celebrated Queen Ingrid’s centenary year, I would not rule it out entirely. Other family names include Renee for Frederik’s French grandmother and Jane or Patricia for Mary’s sisters. As a long shot, I will also mention Alexandra for Frederik’s popular ex-sister-in-law, the former Alexandra Manley, who is now Countess of Frederiksborg.

Royal Names

As the oldest monarchy in Europe, Denmark offers scores of possibilities in its long history. The names of the couple’s first two children came from Danish royal history. Prince Christian got his name because for centuries, the crown was past from Frederik to Christian to Frederik in a loop that was only broken when King Frederik VIII had no sons. As for Princess Isabella, Frederik and Mary selected it after perusing their royal history. It was a rather surprising choice because there has really only been one other Isabella in all of that history, a 16th-century queen consort known as Isabella of Austria, daughter of the Spanish Queen Juana the Mad and therefore granddaughter of Ferdinand and Isabella as well as niece of Henry VIII’s first wife Catherine of Aragon.

With these choices for the first two children, don’t be surprised if they follow the same pattern in naming the new babies. For girls, this list includes Feodora, Marina, Cecilia, Thyra, Mariane, Louise, Charlotte, Juliana, Amalia, Ulrika, Christina, Eleonore, Augusta, Philippa, Martha, Adela, Emma and Catherine. Since another prominent royal event is taking place elsewhere in April, I would eliminate Catherine and Philippa from this list (to avoid concerns that the princess is being named for either of the Middleton sisters.) Eleonore seems to be popular among current European royals: Princess Leonor of Spain, Princess Eleonore of Belgium and Countess Leonore of Orange-Nassau in The Netherlands. I don’t know whether this popularity makes the name a more or less likely choice. I personally am a fan of Charlotte, Helena, Emma and Cecilia, while Mariane could pay tribute to the baby’s mother the Crown Princess, her aunt Princes Marie and her great-aunt Queen Anne Marie of Denmark.

The list of royal boy names offers many, many Nordic choices like Eric, Knud, Olaf, Haakon, Valdemar, Niels and Harald as well as possibilities like Christopher, Carl, George, Adolf, Jacob and Abel. For some reason, Jacob and Abel seem attractive to me; perhaps because they have been rarely used, just like Isabella. They also work well in Princess Mary’s mother tongue of English. I think Harald and Haakon are unlikely since these are the names of the current Norwegian king and his heir and Christopher would seem odd for a boy with a brother named Christian. Or, perhaps in honor of the Disney version of the Danish story, “The Little Mermaid,” the baby will be christened Prince Eric.

Australian Names

Another possibility is that Mary will reflect her Aussie upbringing by selecting names that are popular in Australia, which could lead to the rather informal choice of Prince Jack or the very surprising Princess Madison and Prince Cooper. However, the top ten list of most popular Australian baby names also includes the potentially appropriate-enough Olivia, Lily, Chloe, Grace and Amelia as well as William, Thomas, Max, James and Alexander.

Greenlandic Names

Another option might be to honor the people of Greenland who are also subjects of the Danish queen. Popular names there include Karen, Johanna, Helene and Anna for girls and as well as Peter, Lars, Soren and David for boys. Of course, the couple could choose to celebrate the Greenlanders by selecting ethnic Greenlandic names such as Princess Allinna, Ivi, Paarma or Usinna and Prince Atoq, Manu, Peri or Tavik.

My Choices

Based on nothing more than my own intuition, I’m placing my top five choices for each baby as Ingrid, Margrethe, Helena, Louise or Henrietta for the little princess and Andre, John, Jacob, Eric or Peter for her brother.

My last post about contemporary royal romances made me start thinking about the beautiful new princesses that have resulted from these latest marriages. (Yes, the baby princes are cute too, but this is a blog about princesses. . .) I know many of my readers are not avid royal watchers, so I thought you might like to see pics of these little darlings. For those of you who are already familiar with them, you will probably enjoy seeing them again!

It's hard to choose just one photo of Infanta Leonor of Spain. I think she is the most adorable child in the world since Shirley Temple retired her tap shoes! This one of her holding her little sister Infanta Sofia's hand--and wearing matching outfits as they often do--is one of my favorites. Leonor is the oldest daughter of the Felipe and Letizia, the Prince and Princess of the Asturias. She is second in line to the throne after her father. However, under current Spanish law, which uses male-preference primogeniture to determine succession, she would be superceded if her father has any legitimate sons. (This is the same type of succession used in England--if Queen Elizabeth II had had a brother, she wouldn't be queen today.) Changes in the law have been proposed in Spain, but have not yet been adopted.

In Denmark, Princess Isabella is third in line to the throne following her father, Crown Prince Frederick and her older brother Prince Christian. Denmark, like all of the Scandinavian countries, has adopted gender-blind succession laws. Isabella's name was considered an unusual choice because it is not common in Denmark, but I think it is very lovely. (By the way, take a look at her shoes in this photo--either she was is extremely active or her mom is thrifty enough to use hand-me-downs.)

Princess Ingrid Alexandra is second in line in Norway after her father, Crown Prince Haakon. As his oldest child, she takes precedence over her younger full brother, Prince Sverre Magnus, because Norway's succession goes by birth order. However, the law was only changed in 1990. Before that, Norway used Salic Law, which meant women could not accede to the throne at all. Therefore, Haakon's older sister, Princess Martha Louise, was excluded until the new law was passed. Under the new succession law, Haakon, as the second child, would have been demoted. So, Parliament decided that, while Martha Louise would be included in the line of succession, the new gender-blind rules would only apply to children born after 1990. This doesn't seem to bother Martha Louise who dropped her royal status (she's just Her Highness, not Her Royal Highness) when she married in 2002. She has numerous business ventures which would not have been possible if she were heir to the throne.

Belgium has a plethora of tiny princesses, but the future queen is Princess Elisabeth (she's on the left, with her cousins, Princess Letitia Marie and Princess Louise). King Albert II has six granddaughters and six grandsons. Elisabeth is the first of Crown Prince Philippe's children and is number two behind her dad in order of succession. She has two younger brothers, Gabriel and Emmanuel, and a younger sister, Eleonore.


Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, like the Queen of England, also benefited from having no brothers. She succeeded her mother, Queen Juliana, who also had no brothers, and Queen Juliana succeeded her mother, Queen Wilhemina, whose brothers had died young. In fact, when the current Crown Prince Willem Alexander was born in 1967, he was the first Dutch prince to be born in more than 100 years. Although Beatrix broke the century-long tradition by having three sons and no daughters, she has made up for it in the next generation: seven of her eight grandchildren are girls. Only three of the girls are princesses, however, as it was decided in 2001 that only the children of the Crown Prince would have royal status; the other girls are countesses. The Crown Prince's three daughters are Princess Catharina-Amalia (called Amalia), Princess Alexia (named for her dad, who is called Alexander) and Princess Ariane, in that order. The top photo shows the three princesses from youngest to oldest. The bottom photo shows Queen Beatrix wrangling her six oldest grandchildren.

All of these little girls are still too young to realize the true impact of their positions. They probably think all children are incessantly followed by photographers! However, their parents have taken measures to raise them as normally as possible. Unlike many previous royals, they were born in hospitals and they attend regular kindergartens with ordinary children. They also appear to have very devoted parents who take them on regular outings to the seaside, theme parks, and other family-oriented spots. And, like most little girls, they seem to have their daddies wrapped around their fingers!