Origin Of Royal Names

[Denville]

Good thing Diana got her way in naming William and Henry.

I laughed at her comment that the alternatives were Arthur and Albert, and she could not accept those choices!

where is the source for this please? the only things I have read about the boys name were in magazines, which were probably not very well sourced.. and that the story was that Diana would have liked a more flexbile choice than the traditional royal names.. and suggested something like Rupert or Oliver. but the RF were not likely to OK that and they ended up with the traditional family names of William and Henry.

 

[Mirabel]

Just read that in the series in the DM about the new releases of the tapes for the Morton book.

I thought it so amusing, because I also think Arthur and Albert are horrible names!

 

[Denville]

Is there a quote from Diana on her tapes about this?

 

[Lee-Z]

Maybe what is referred to is this quote

"The second in line to the throne was still known officially as “Baby Wales” and it took the couple several days of discussion before they arrived at a name Prince Charles admitted as much: “We’ve thought of one or two. There’s a bit of an argument about it, but we’ll find one eventually.” Charles wanted to call his first son “Arthur” and his second “Albert”, after Queen Victoria’s consort. William and Harry were Diana’s choices while her husband’s preferences were taken into account in their children’s middle names.”

quoted from:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2228359-diana-her-true-story

 

[Mirabel]

Is there a quote from Diana on her tapes about this?

There was a quote from Diana, but I am too lazy to look it up.

 

[Iluvbertie]

Maybe what is referred to is this quote

"The second in line to the throne was still known officially as “Baby Wales” and it took the couple several days of discussion before they arrived at a name Prince Charles admitted as much: “We’ve thought of one or two. There’s a bit of an argument about it, but we’ll find one eventually.” Charles wanted to call his first son “Arthur” and his second “Albert”, after Queen Victoria’s consort. William and Harry were Diana’s choices while her husband’s preferences were taken into account in their children’s middle names.”

quoted from:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2228359-diana-her-true-story

The interesting part in all of this is that William is reportedly named after Prince William of Gloucester whom Charles looked up to as an older brother and wanted to honour. Had he lived he would have been the Duke of Gloucester.

If Diana was the one who chose William why would she chose to name her son after her mother-in-law's deceased cousin?

Somewhere there is a lot of 'made-up' stuff at times and who knows the truth as I suspect that we aren't told.

 

[Mirabel]

Diana quote.....

I chose the names William and Harry because the alternative was Arthur and Albert. No, thank you. There weren’t fights over it. It was just a fait accompli.

Read more: The latest revelations from the Diana's tapes | Daily Mail Online

 

[MaiaMia_53]

Good thing Diana got her way in naming William and Henry.

I laughed at her comment that the alternatives were Arthur and Albert, and she could not accept those choices!

Thank goodness is right!

 

[Denville]

well I agree that if she didn't like the trad names of Albert and Arthur, why would she pick Wiliam and Harry, which were from the RF too.

 

[Curryong]

Perhaps there was a sort of negotiation going on, and Diana having rejected Arthur and Albert and Charles presumably nixing Oliver, they both looked around for names in both families that they liked and were 'available' so to speak (no close relatives) and so William and Harry came up? Diana adored her father and I must admit I remain a bit surprised that John wasn't in the equation as a middle name. Maybe both were superstitious!

 

[Denville]

I'd question if Diana adored her father but it has been said that John was nixed, because its considered an unlucky name...
I think that as the sons of the future King, there was likely to be less choice what they were called than for say Andrews children who were also girls (and girls names tend to be a bit more imaginative.).
I rather thougt that it was said by Charles or his aides that William's name was chosen because it was Royal and not in use in the family at the time..
but I can imagine Diana liking something more adventurous and being told that it had to be something very traditional.. and possibly she thought Albert and Arthur were just TOO awful and Vicotrian.

 

[MaiaMia_53]

I don't think it had anything to do with Diana disliking traditional royal names.

Methinks it had more to do with Diana recognizing that the names William and Henry (Harry) are solid, traditional names which are also much more classic and therefore ever more modern sounding than 'Arthur & Albert' as first names! What would they God forbid have been nicknamed: Artie & Bertie?! Those monikers sound so Victorian age, two-centuries ago!

Wills Harry Much, much better. We'd best to believe that both Prince William and Prince Harry are in full agreement too! Whew! ?

 

[Curryong]

Harry suits his name I think. However, I was in England shortly after Harry was christened and I can remember a few people grumbling that it was 'an old man's name' and a not particularly attractive one. It was true in a way, as I had a great-uncle Harry born in the early 1900s and no-one I knew had christened their child Henry (or Harry) in the 1970's and 80s. It is a very traditional Royal name though, and better than Albert!

 

[Denville]

I don't like the name Harry, and at the time it had completely gone out as an abbrev for Henry. It was indeed an old man's name and I would consider it positively Victorian.. so If Diana didn't like Albert etc, I would be surprised if she liked Harry as an abbreviation.
but the RF's use of the name made Harry fashionable again..as an abbrevaiton or a given name.

 

[MaiaMia_53]

Diana is the one who expressly wished for/ and chose to have Prince Henry called "Harry." I definitely recall that being reported at the time his birth name was revealed. It's what Diana wanted him to be called for whatever reason. She must have preferred the nickname 'Harry,' over the traditional 'Henry,' which indeed sounds old for a toddler. To me 'Harry' doesn't sound that old.

And there was the Harry Potter series of books that appeared later starting in 1997.

 

[Denville]

I don't remember this being reported . Harry had gone out of fashion at the time that Prince H was born and it was IMO his beign a popular royal kid tat brought it back into fashion. Harry Potter wasn't written till Harry was 15... and for some reason that set of "books" presumably added to making the name popular.
I would have said that it was more likely Charles who is known to be very old fashioned, suggested Harry as a pet name.. since it was alos the family name of Henry Duke of Gloucester his great uncle.. Possibly, she felt that Henry was dull and old fashioned..Chalres said "we could clal him Harry" and they agreed to this.

 

[Curryong]

I think there's a thread here (hasn't been used for a while) called 'Why is Henry Harry?' that goes into the ins and outs of who decided what and other various nicknames and name shortenings among the BRF?

BTW, I loooove the Harry Potter books and the films!

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

I don't like the name Harry, and at the time it had completely gone out as an abbrev for Henry. It was indeed an old man's name and I would consider it positively Victorian.. so If Diana didn't like Albert etc, I would be surprised if she liked Harry as an abbreviation.
but the RF's use of the name made Harry fashionable again..as an abbrevaiton or a given name.

Both Harry and Henry are old fashioned names that I feel should die out; but at least by modern royal standards it's a little unique. I give props to Will and Kate for bringing Charlotte back instead of the ceaseless Anne, Mary, Elizabeth's.... But as time goes on I wish George had been known as Alexander and just use George when he becomes King.
Despite my lack of fondness for BRF names, I for some reason like the Danish tradition of naming the first son.

 

[Denville]

Why shoudl they die out? If it was a really ugly sounding name like Cuthbert maybe. but I like Henry. I even like Harry but I did think of it as an almost Victorian name that had died out, when H was born.
And as for names Like the "ceaseless Mary and Anne??" There hasn't been a Princess Anne before "our Anne" in centuries. Q Victoria's daughters all had different names that hadn't been used for ages.. like Helena, Beatrice etc.
Can't understand the dreadful Danish Fred alternating with Chirstian. I think that Is carrying tradtion way too far....(unless they are called by nicknames in private)

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Christianovna?

When Princess Dagmar of Denmark arrived in St. Petersburg to marry the Tsarevich Alexander, Tsar Alexander II decided that her Russian name would be Marie Feodorovna. Her father was King Christian IX. Her patronymic would be Christianovna because of her father. However, Christianovna does not exist in Russia.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden is Carl Philip Edmund Bertil. Is the Edmund after King Emund of Sweden who reigned from 1050 to 1060?

 

[Gawin]

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden is Carl Philip Edmund Bertil. Is the Edmund after King Emund of Sweden who reigned from 1050 to 1060?

The Edmund was probably after King Carl Gustaf's father whose full name was Gustaf Adolf Oscar Fredrik Arthur Edmund, known in the family as Edmund. So I guess the question is why he was named Edmund.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

After whom was Prince Michael of Kent named?

 

[Denville]

I think there is some Prince Michael of Greece...maybe after him? And Michael was also used in the Ruissian IF...

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Princess Marina of Greece's mother was originally Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. Prince Michael may have been named after Tsar Michael I of Russia.

 

[Alison H]

The name seemed to get lost somewhere between Tsar Michael I and Grand Duke Michael, younger brother of Nicholas II ... I don't know why! Prince Michael of Greece is only a few years older than Prince Michael of Kent, and presumably they both got the name because of the Russian connection, but no idea why the name suddenly made a royal comeback!

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

The name seemed to get lost somewhere between Tsar Michael I and Grand Duke Michael, younger brother of Nicholas II ... I don't know why! Prince Michael of Greece is only a few years older than Prince Michael of Kent, and presumably they both got the name because of the Russian connection, but no idea why the name suddenly made a royal comeback!

And King Michael of Romania, cousin to Prince Philip, whom also had a direct Greek connection via his mother Princess Helena of Greece and Denmark.

 

[Prinsara]

What about Queen Maud of Norway? I think her father's sister was "Alice Maud Mary" but other than that, she's about the only Maud in Britain since the Empress, and although she popularized it in Norway, the only one of her handful of descendants is Märtha Louise's daughter Maud Behn.

 

[Gawin]

I have no idea why the name Michael was chosen, but it appears he was originally known as "Prince George," at least for a week following his christening.

The caption accompanying a photograph of his christening, published in the The Times on August 5, 1942, refers to him as "Prince George." In its August 13, 1942 issue The Times announced that [FONT=&quot]“The Duke and Duchess of Kent have decided that their younger son, who at his baptism on August 4 received the names Michael George Charles Franklin, shall be known as Prince Michael.” Other British newspapers published on that date state he would be called "[/FONT][FONT=&quot]“Prince Michael, and not, as originally planned, as Prince George.”[/FONT]

 

[CyrilVladisla]

The name seemed to get lost somewhere between Tsar Michael I and Grand Duke Michael, younger brother of Nicholas II ... I don't know why! Prince Michael of Greece is only a few years older than Prince Michael of Kent, and presumably they both got the name because of the Russian connection, but no idea why the name suddenly made a royal comeback!

Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia (1798-1849) was the son of Tsar Paul I of Russia.
Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia (1832-1909) was the son of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia.