Stoltenberg, who had the official privilege of publicizing the name after King Harald announced it to an assembled government, said the name has "long and good traditions in Norway," and also reflects the names of family members on both his parents' sides.
His father, Crown Prince Haakon, has 'Magnus' as his middle name and it was used regularly throughout his childhood and teenage years. Only recently has the use of "Haakon Magnus" subsided.
Not 'His Royal Highness
Many Norwegians had tipped that the new royal baby boy would be named 'Olav,' after Norway's second modern king who was the son of King Haakon VII.
The new son of Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, however, is third in line to take over as Norway's monarch, after his older sister Ingrid Alexandra and his father. That makes him less likely to ever take over as reigning monarch, and royal watchers speculated that use of the name 'Olav' may be reserved for the day Norway has a clear male heir to the throne.
The birth of the new prince was greeted with a 21-gun salute at 1pm on Sunday from the canons atop Oslo's Akershus Castle and Fortress, and at fortresses elsewhere in Norway. King Harald said the new baby won't carry the extra title "His Royal Highness," however, and his birthday won't become an official flag day in Norway.
Snuck out the hospital's back door
The new baby was resting at home Monday at the suburban Oslo estate known as Skaugum, after he and his mother were spirited out of Norway's national hospital just five hours after the birth over the weekend. That's what also happened nearly two years ago, when Prince Sverre Magnus' sister Ingrid Alexandra was born.
Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon clearly have wanted to orchestrate the births on their own terms, even to the point of taking their own photos of the babies and publishing them on their own web sites, instead of leaving such matters to the established media.
While other European royal heirs and their parents tend to stay in the hospital longer, and then take time to show off their babies to the public when they leave, Norwegians haven't been allowed such formality. It remained unclear when Prince Sverre Magnus, roughly pronounced "Svair-ah Mahg-noos," would make his public debut.