Archie Brake, 3, and Harrison Roberts-Brake, 12, together have a fun commonality with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's baby boy. Photo / Supplied
Archie Brake, 3, and Harrison Roberts-Brake, 12, together have a fun commonality with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's baby boy. Photo / Supplied
After months of speculation about when she would give birth, what the gender would be and the much-anticipated name, Meghan Markle and her husband Prince Harry, speaking in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle, have revealed to the world their bonny baby boy, named, against royal tradition, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
With the world's eyes on the smitten new parents and their sweet boy, nobody would have expected the phone of a Rotorua mother to start going off. But as Shauni James has discovered, the Rotorua mum of two has a link to the new royal.
A Rotorua mother woke up to a right royal surprise this morning when she found out her sons shared the new royal baby's names.
Rebecca Brake has two sons - Archie Brake, 3, and Harrison Roberts-Brake, 12.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle revealed the name of their baby boy early this morning -Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
Brake laughed as she explained how she woke up to about 10 people who had messaged her to say the likes of, "oh my God, she stole your names" or "did she ask permission?".
She said that was how she found out what the royal baby's name was.
"I thought it was so funny and about how unlikely that is, and they were unexpected names not anticipated from the royals."
Brake said Harrison wasn't at the top of her list when her eldest son was born.
She said he was meant to be Flynn but he did not look like a Flynn, so they asked their midwife what she thought and she said Harrison suited him, and they agreed.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose with their newborn son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor during a photocall in St George's Hall at Windsor
The midwife suggested Harrison because she said it was a strong name, Brake said.
Brake said Archie came about because she was a teacher and she struggled to find a boy's name where she did not know someone with it already - until Archie came up one day.
She said a lot of people referenced the name Archie to the television show .
Brake said she knew she'd name her son Archie throughout the whole pregnancy.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed their son's name on their Instagram account, with a black-and-white photo of Meghan showing the baby to Queen Elizabeth II. Beside them stood Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, Prince Harry and the Duke of Edinburgh.
Royals tend to pick traditional names for their offspring. And so, before the announcement, bookies said the favourites for Baby Sussex were Spencer, Alexander, James, Philip, Arthur and Albert.
Archie was the 18th most popular name for boys in England and Wales in 2017, according to the latest available figures from the Office for National Statistics.
It has experienced a dramatic rise in popularity since 1996 when it was only in 192nd place.
