'Princess Desirée' tipped by Swedish bookies
The names Elouise and Desirée came out as favourites on Friday as Sweden awoke to news that Princess Madeleine had been delivered of a daughter in New York.
Desirée, it should be noted, was the name of one of the King's four older sisters - Margaretha, Birgitta, Désirée and Christina - who are referred to as the "Haga Princesses" because the young brood was raised at Haga Castle just north of Stockholm, where the current crown princess has now taken up residence with her family.
If the crown princess' pick of the name Estelle for her daughter surprised many a Swede, royal experts said on Friday that the New York-based Princess Madeleine may feel at even greater liberty to pick a non-traditional name for her child.
"'Madde' has bit of leeway compared to Victoria who will be monarch and has certain rules to consider," royal reporter Sten Hedman told the TT news agency.
He would place his money on Desirée, he said, because it also worked in English and the child's father was Anglo-American Chris O'Neill.
"They will always spend a lot of time abroad. I have put my money on Desirée, which is in the family, easy to pronounce and therefore useful internationally," he elaborated.
Other low odds fell on Elouise and Alice. Anyone wanted to go a bit crazy, however, could instead put their money on Flora or Ulla, which will give a 125-fold return on the bet.
Name experts underlined that there were many names that were common both in Sweden and in the US, such as Emma, Julia or Sophie, which may crowd out less globally exportable Swedish names from the list of viable choices.
"But I'd find it difficult to imagine for example Hjördis," said name researcher Kathatrina Leibring.
Over the Christmas period, The Local predicted, only half tongue-in-cheek, that the princess may chose to call her child Adele.
One person who appears to have decided to keep his name out of the debate, however, is royal historian Herman Lindqvist. Last time a Swedish princess was delivered of a baby, he said that Princess Estelle "sounded like a night club singer". On Friday, he told TT he had no comments whatsoever.
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Desirée, it should be noted, was the name of one of the King's four older sisters - Margaretha, Birgitta, Désirée and Christina - who are referred to as the "Haga Princesses" because the young brood was raised at Haga Castle just north of Stockholm, where the current crown princess has now taken up residence with her family.
If the crown princess' pick of the name Estelle for her daughter surprised many a Swede, royal experts said on Friday that the New York-based Princess Madeleine may feel at even greater liberty to pick a non-traditional name for her child.
"'Madde' has bit of leeway compared to Victoria who will be monarch and has certain rules to consider," royal reporter Sten Hedman told the TT news agency.
He would place his money on Desirée, he said, because it also worked in English and the child's father was Anglo-American Chris O'Neill.
"They will always spend a lot of time abroad. I have put my money on Desirée, which is in the family, easy to pronounce and therefore useful internationally," he elaborated.
Other low odds fell on Elouise and Alice. Anyone wanted to go a bit crazy, however, could instead put their money on Flora or Ulla, which will give a 125-fold return on the bet.
Name experts underlined that there were many names that were common both in Sweden and in the US, such as Emma, Julia or Sophie, which may crowd out less globally exportable Swedish names from the list of viable choices.
"But I'd find it difficult to imagine for example Hjördis," said name researcher Kathatrina Leibring.
Over the Christmas period, The Local predicted, only half tongue-in-cheek, that the princess may chose to call her child Adele.
One person who appears to have decided to keep his name out of the debate, however, is royal historian Herman Lindqvist. Last time a Swedish princess was delivered of a baby, he said that Princess Estelle "sounded like a night club singer". On Friday, he told TT he had no comments whatsoever.
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