The Queen’s great-granddaughter gets a royal middle name

They chose Lena – pronounced Lay-na – because “It is just a name they liked,” says their spokeswoman #royalbaby

— Emily Nash (@emynash) 1530111353.0

The Queen’s new great-grandchild is called Lena Elizabeth Tindall. But it’s not pronounced like Lena Dunham, it’s pronounced “Lay-na” according to proud father Mike Tindall. He settled the matter on Twitter after royal correspondent for Hello!, Emily Nash broke the baby name news.

@anngripper @JanetETennessee Pronounced like Lay-na

— mike tindall (@miketindall13) 1530128360.0

Little Lena shares her middle name with her great-grandmother the Queen, as well as with her mother, whose full name is Zara Anne Elizabeth, after her mother, Princess Anne, and her grandmother the Queen.

@royalmusing @anngripper @JanetETennessee No Mia is Me-a ?

— mike tindall (@miketindall13) 1530128644.0

Lena may seem like an untraditional choice for a family with such recent royal roots, but the short, moden name goes well beside her sister’s. The Tindalls welcomed their first daughter, Mia Grace, on January 17, 2014. Her dad couldn’t help making a joke about her simple name today after Twitter erupted in confusion about how to pronounce her sister’s.

So if Tindall is, like Harry and William, the Queen’s grandchild, why are her daughters not little princesses? Well, the title of princess is not inherited, and Tindall herself is not one, at her mother’s choosing. Because William and Harry were born to the Queen’s son, Charles, they got titles automatically, but in Tindall’s case, because she was the Queen’s descendant through a daughter, Princess Anne, the title of princess was a matter of courtesy, not automatic.

The Queen offered Princess Anne titles for both Tindall and her brother, Peter, but Anne didn’t want her children to be called prince and princess.

In a 2015 interview Tindall explained that she was glad her parents didn’t take the queen up on her offer, as royal titles can be a heavy burden on a child. “I’m very lucky that both my parents decided to not use the title and we grew up and did all the things that gave us the opportunity to do,” Tindall told The TImes.