What's in a name?

"James", "Arthur", "Philip" and "Albert" were leading the list of bookmakers' favourites on Monday for the name of the baby born earlier in the day to Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Harry says the name will be revealed later this week.

Proud dad: Prince Harry speaking to journalists after the birth of his son, 6 May 2019. Steve Parsons/Pool via REUTERS

Royal names in Britain are normally chosen from a relatively restricted pool of those used by past royals.

This presents Harry and Meghan -- a mixed-race former US TV actress -- with the difficult choice of whether to follow royal tradition or choose a more unusual name.

However, since their baby is only seventh in line to the throne and therefore unlikely to ever become king, the couple may have more freedom to make their own choice.

When Meghan ran a lifestyle blog called The Tig before her wedding last year, she wrote that one of her favourite baby names was Grey, which would work both a boy and a girl.

That is unlikely to go down well in Britain and the same would go for very American-sounding names such as Bradley, which is seen as highly improbable by the bookmakers.

Slightly higher in the betting is "Spencer" -- a popular name in the United States and also the maiden name of Harry's late beloved mother Princess Diana.