Touch of class as Catho joins the firm

SO now we know. Kate Middleton is actually a Catherine, with a C.

SO now we know. Kate Middleton is actually a Catherine, with a C.

Not that we have anything against that: some of our best friends are Catherines with a C.

For that matter, we are very fond of a number of people called Kate. But the news that Prince William's fiancee styles herself as a Kate rather than a Cath or a Cathy is at least as anthropologically interesting as all the other trivia hurtling our way as the world prepares for the royal nuptials next year.

We may pretend otherwise, but names are like a shorthand for defining our tribe.

They are as good a way of deciding where to slot you in as your dress, hairstyle or choice of car.

What, one wonders, would the Twitter generation make of a Princess Cathy or for that matter, a Queen Cath?

Would Bill and Cath have looked as cool stumbling at dawn from the nightclubs of London into the lenses of the paparazzi?

We note Middleton's parents are sticking with their original decision: her father called her Catherine when he and his wife fronted the press to endorse the most-anticipated engagement this century. But the young woman herself, so well-produced, so appropriate for the era, clearly gets the politics of what we once called our Christian names.

She understands that while Kate works well with William and Harry and even Diana, Cathy may have presented her with a class problem with a capital C.

Of course, she could have stuck with Catherine, which is not only a beautiful and gracious name but remains pretty posh, if a touch old-world. But Kate is spunkier.

Modern and accessible, it's neither naff or de trop and glides across the complex class rules of the British Isles: not so toffy as to alienate but not to be confused with Kylie neither.

The soon-to-be-royal may be forced to revert to her original name now she is officially in the firm, but her early days as a Kate bestow Facebook edge and style.

Of course, the London tabloids can be counted on to label her Cath when she suffers her first bad-hair day in public or beefs up after the wedding, but here in Australia we stand ready to welcome her with full pomp and ceremony and the warmth for which the nation is renown.

We're not buying this Kate business. As far as we're concerned, to us she will always be Catho, Princess Catho, of course.