It was a baby boy for the royal couple. The birth of England's future monarch sparked off celebration all across the U.K. and also the world. But, for a majority of punters across the world, it was a day to be sober and count their huge losses as Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge were highly unlikely to call their son Alexandra or Charlotte.

Most of the punters put their money on a girl child, and a majority of betters on the Queen's middle name, Alexandra, especially after the media became abuzz with reports that Kate had slipped out "d..." during a chat with a well wisher. She reportedly told the lady who gave her a teddy bear, "Thank you, I will take that for my d..."

For the punters, the slip of "d" has tuned out be a "red herring" and for which they fell left, right and center and now they must be reeling under utter despair.

Rory Scott, a spokesman for Irish bookmakers Paddy Power, told AFP that nearly 60 percent of punters had bet on a girl or on a girl's name.

The news that the Duchess of Cambridge went into labour on Monday triggered a last-hour betting frenzy and stumped the betting agencies, too. "It's gone absolutely crazy,'' Nicola McGeady, a spokesperson for the betting agency Coral, told TODAY.com. "The announcement that the Duchess went into labor has sparked a one-million-bet frenzy worldwide for us. It's the biggest non-sporting event we've ever seen."

The Huffington Post reported that Ladbrokes took 50,000 bets in the hours after the Duchess of Cambridge went into labor on Monday.

There was heavy betting on the girl's name Alexandra. TODAY.com reported that Ladbrokes had the odds of Duchess Kate giving birth to a girl at 1-2 and the odds on name Alexandra at 6-4.

McGeady feared a nightmare time if the Kensington Palace announced the birth of a baby girl. "We would be losing about 100,000 pounds,'' McGeady had told Today.

"If it's Alexandra we would lose about 250,000 pounds. If it's a boy, the punters will be tearing up their betting slips. Also, the name Alexandra has attracted bets as big as 5,000 pounds, which makes us think someone knows more than we do."

And, the announcement of the baby boy tells that no one knew, except the royal family, and they maintained a stoic silence when it came to questions regarding the sex of the baby. The "d" that Kate slipped out could have been for "dear boy."

An Austrian punter who had bet £1,000 on the baby being a boy was all set to collect a whopping amount. "It's been odds-on all year long that Kate would give birth to a girl and punters who believed it would be a boy have now collected over £100,000 worth of winnings," Jessica Bridge of Landbrokes told AFP.

And for the intrepid punters, the betting cycle started again. It was now time to bet on the baby's name. Since it was a royal baby boy, names like George and James have dethroned Alexndra and Charlotte to become favourites.

George was now the Paddy Power favorite at 6/4, followed by James (11/4), Alexander (7/2) and Louis (8/1).

If the royal couple decided to name their newborn Henry, it'll be like "staring down the barrel of a gun," according to Bridge.

Punters can also place their bet on when the baby boy will be named by the royal couple. Also, AFP reported that betting on royal baby number two already started.