Possible names for the new Lord or Lady Wessex

[rominet09]

Theo has nothing to do with that : it comes from Theos in ancient Greek and it means "God"

[blondie28]

Actually Theo is one of his middle names because it was in honor of Sophie's grandfather.

[bluestocking]

I'm glad I was wrong. I like James a lot better than George! It's nice that they were able to pick names that they liked and weren't pressured to use some old royal name they didn't like. I like Theo as well. Footballer? How so? I've got a couple of different images for it. One is a black kid, like on The Cosby Show, and one is of a rather upperclass hipster kid. The latter is probably what this little guy will be. They were wise to shorten it to Theo instead of sticking the poor little boy with Theophilious.

[poppy7]

Originally Posted by bluestocking

I'm glad I was wrong. I like James a lot better than George! It's nice that they were able to pick names that they liked and weren't pressured to use some old royal name they didn't like. I like Theo as well. Footballer? How so?

I presume it refers to Theo Walcott, who is a young, up and coming, on the English football (soccar) team.

[cmkrcwi]

I wasn't expecting them to name him quite so quickly. But those are nice names. Does that mean he'll be "Lord Jim"?

Speaking of David, I believe that it is meant to be for The Queen Mother's younger brother David and not for The Duke of Windsor.

[blondie28]

Originally Posted by cmkrcwi

Speaking of David, I believe that it is meant to be for The Queen Mother's younger brother David and not for The Duke of Windsor.

Yes I agree. I think when Princess Margaret named her son she did not name him afer the Duke of Windsor.

[norwegianne]

I like the names, classical names rarely go wrong, but I'm not really all that keen on Theo at the end. It feels too abrupt as an ending. I suppose I'm in the minority, though, in wishing that they'd gone full out on that one and named him Theophilius.

[PrincessofEurope]

im not sure about james i certainly wasnt expecting that. i think it would have been better to have Christopher rather than Theo as the name honoring Sophie's family

[iowabelle]

I'm stewing, I'm sorry. I can't find the post, but one of our members said it was inappropriate for E&S to name the baby Theo because Theo meant "god."

It's pretty obvious Theo was a nod to Sophie's family (and to Edward's too, think of Princess Theodora of Greece).

But I thought it was inappropriate to say the name was inappropriate. I guess the hundreds of thousands of Latino women who name their babies "Jesus" are also inappropriate.

In general IMO the names were pretty good and a great compliment to Prince Philip. And I think it says something about the Queen's relationship to her children, that she didn't nix James as being inauspicious (remember George V's veto on the proposed name of the princess who grew up to be Princess Margaret?).

I'm not too keen on the name James myself (my dad's name), but it's not my baby. I hope he continues to bring great joy to the Wessex family.

[debzone]

Originally Posted by PrincessofEurope

im not sure about james i certainly wasnt expecting that. i think it would have been better to have Christopher rather than Theo as the name honoring Sophie's family

I suspect Theo was chosen as a way to honor/remember Sophie's mother who sadly is no longer with her?

[Kevin_of_Sussex]

Theo is short for Theobald, or Theodore. There may be a reason for choosing this name for the new Viscount of Severn.

[Claire]

I think Theo was choosen to show respect to Sophie's father's side.
The name Theo has always been in the Rhys-Jones line.
Sophie's uncle was Theophilus (short Theo) 1921-2007. He died early in 2007. He only had a daughter so the name was unable to follow the line.
But before that:
Sophie's grandfather Theophilus Rhys-Jones (1902-1952) He was a head master of a surrey school. Edward and Sophie recently opened a Rhys-Jones Hall named after him. Great Grandfather Theophilus Rhys-Jones (1871-1953), his father Theophilus Rhys-Jones (1839-1901), before him Theophilus Rice Jones (d. 1798-1886) and before him Rice Jones (d.1811). So James follows a long tradition in the Rhys-family. I wouldn't be surprise if Harry and Oliver Rhys-Jones have Theo in their names as well.

[Kevin_of_Sussex]

Originally Posted by Claire

I think Theo was choosen to show respect to Sophie's father's side.
The name Theo has always been in the Rhys-Jones line.

Thank you for being so informative on the name Theo, as in Rhys-Jones. I have also made note of Sophie's ancestors which I shall put into the new royal.ged file (the royal genealogy database which I am developing as an update of the old royal92.ged).