How to score an invite to the royal baby's first birthday party

“Rumours are going around that if you’re born on the same day you’ll get invited to the royal baby’s first birthday tea party,” Sarah Barrett, UK editor of BabyCentre tells RadioTimes.com.

Special party dresses at the ready, eh?

Further speculation has suggested that parents are actively holding out on naming their child – either to pick the same name as the royals or to avoid it.

But, according to an overnight BabyCentre poll, more than 80% of mums say the baby name Kate Middleton and Prince William choose will not affect their choice.

Sarah explains, “I don’t think people will actively wait in order to have the same name because I think mums will get pretty fed up of people saying, ‘Oh, did you name your baby after the royal baby?’

“Whatever the royal baby is called, I don’t think mums in the following months will be keen to name their baby the same as the royal baby, but certainly in years to come I think we’ll see that as a strong influence in the naming charts,” Sarah adds.

Indeed, royal monikers have often had an influence on the top 100 babies names. The Office of National Statistics has shown Harry to top the poll of boys names in 2011 and Barrett says the same is true among BabyCentre mums:

“Harry and William are popular. Zara and Elizabeth have gone up in popularity.

“Royal baby names tend to be very traditional, very timeless, very respected. I think middle names is where we could see the royal name crop up,” Barrett adds.

So, what names are mums predicting?

“If it’s a girl 42% of our members think she will be called Alexandra and 47% think George for a boy. Victoria and Diana come in second and third, while James and Phillip are second and third choices for boys,” says Barrett.

Speaking about the mix of traditional and modern in anticipation of the birth being announced on an easel outside of Buckingham Palace and, in all likelihood, a tweet as well, Barrett says:

“I think it’s very similar to Kate and Will’s style that they like tradition and they like to keep things up to date. I think it reflects Kate and William’s personalities as well.”