The little girl was born on Saturday, but the name kept secret until today because the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wanted to inform the Queen personally before making the announcement.
The princess will be known as Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge.The name Charlotte is the feminine version of Charles, and a nod to the princess' father, the Prince of Wales. Kate's sister Pippa Middleton has Charlotte as her middle name.
Charlotte's middle names honour William's grandmother Queen Elizabeth and William's mother the late Princess Diana of Wales.
The princess was born on Saturday at St Mary's Hospital in London weighing 3.7kg.Despite the name's popularity in New Zealand, Charlotte was ranked 21st in the UK for girls' names statistics of 2013.
Sean Palmer of Monarchy New Zealand said he thought the princess' name was very much in keeping with the Cambridges'.
"I'm impressed that everybody's guesses on that were quite accurate, that's quite extraordinary," Dr Palmer said.
His personal pick was for the princess' first name to be Elizabeth.
The name Charlotte hasn't been used by a royal for 200 years, Dr Palmer said.
"I think we generally expect royal names to be fairly traditional... [Charlotte] is one of the most popular names being used at the moment," he said.
"It's fair to say they've gone with a popular name rather than a historic [name]."
Dr Palmer said the fact that Elizabeth had been incorporated in the name was a nice recognition of the Queen, and the inclusion of Diana would be well-received by the public.
William and Kate named their first son George Alexander Louis, and Dr Palmer said the two names were well-matched."That was probably on their minds, too," he said.
