Kate Middleton's 2002 see-through dress to go under the hammer

Kate Middleton's see-through dress that she wore as part of a university fashion show in 2002 is set to go under the hammer next month.

Her catwalk debut reportedly marked the first time her husband-to-be Prince William first saw the attractive brunette, reports Contactmusic.

Middleton wore the Charlotte Todd knitted slip at a St. Andrews University charity fashion show.

Todd, who now works in an aquarium, has kept the outfit ever since it was returned to her.

The dress will be sold at a Kerry Taylor Auctions sale in March (2011).

"It's definitely a showstopping dress. I'd like to think I played my part in history and in fashion history," Todd said.

Kate 'to become popular baby name'

The name of royal bride-to-be Kate Middleton is expected to become one of the most popular ones for newborn girls in 2011, according to research.

Thousands more baby girls are due to be christened after Prince William's fiancee, or something very close, repeating the trend seen following past royal weddings.

The number of babies with a derivative of the name Kate - Cate, Catherine, the fiancee's full name, Katie and Katy, totalled 2,466 in 2009.

If this number doubles as predicted to 4,932 in 2011 it would come second, if last year's figures for England and Wales remain static, behind the top name of Olivia (5,201) and ahead of third place Ruby (4,555).

The family history website Ancestry.co.uk has mapped the popularity of names in the year of royal nuptials from millions of birth records.

The data reveals that when William's mother Lady Diana Spencer married his father the Prince of Wales in 1981 the popularity of her name doubled from 36 to 72.

A spokesman for the Ancestry website said: "This may not sound a lot at first glance, but to use a recent example, in 2009 there were around 313,000 births of baby girls and 5,556 different girls names registered, so there are actually much fewer girls born with each name than you'd think.

"The most popular names always dominate the name count, usually with a birth count of 4,000 to 5,000-plus."

The effect royal brides have on naming trends can be seen in the years when the Queen Mother and the Queen both walked down the aisle.

In 1923 when the Queen Mother married George VI, an additional 846 Elizabeths were born, a 14% increase compared with the previous year, and when the present monarch wed the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 there were a further 124 Elizabeths that year compared with 1946, up 10%.

Prince William to Make Kate Middleton his Official Princess

After eight years of being together, Prince Willliam has finally asked the big question to girlfriend Kate Middleton. According to the Clarence House office held by the Prince, the two are officially engaged and are both eager to be husband and wife as they have both decided to tie the knot in just a couple of months. Sources say that the two officially got engaged last month when they were having a vacation in Kenya but just recently admitted their current status.

A statement from a royal representative said that Prince William proposed after getting the permission of the queen and Mr. Middleton, Kate’s father. The wedding will be conducted on London either next spring or summer. Despite of the months to wait, there are already speculations that the coming nuptial will be as grand as Prince William’s parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

After the marriage, the two will reside in North Wales with Prince William continuing to serve the Royal Air Force. The love story of the two started when they met at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland where they both studied. Representatives have high hopes about Middleton saying that they believe she will be a good princess.