Why Harry/Henry??

[cinrit]

In the Catholic religion (and perhaps in others?), it's traditional to name a child after a saint. So, using the name "Martin/Marty" as an example, a Catholic child would never be baptized with the name "Marty", even if that's the name his parents intended to call him, because there is no St. Marty. There is, however, a St. Martin. I'm not saying that's why Prince Harry was named Henry (I still hang with the fact that it has more to do with ancestors/relatives).

 

[scooter]

I've always thought it strange to choose a name for your child, all the while planning to call him something else.

My husband's family does this a lot and I have always found it inexplicable. Especially because they continue to foist the name Adolph as a first name (not kidding) and then call the kid something else. Obviously

 

[Daria_S]

In the Catholic religion (and perhaps in others?), it's traditional to name a child after a saint. So, using the name "Martin/Marty" as an example, a Catholic child would never be baptized with the name "Marty", even if that's the name his parents intended to call him, because there is no St. Marty. There is, however, a St. Martin. I'm not saying that's why Prince Harry was named Henry (I still hang with the fact that it has more to do with ancestors/relatives).

I believe same thing is done in the Eastern Orthodox faith.

 

[Rebafan81]

I just stumbled on this thread but it is great because this has always been a pet peeve of mine. I had a sister in law who named her child Kristin Nicole but informed us at the hospital, she would be known as Kristi, IMHO, I always felt if you were going to call the child something, you should name them that. I had a brother named Michael Steven, but we called him Stevie, his whole entire life. I asked my momma, why, she said they just liked Stevie. LOL. I took this into consideration when naming my son, I like a couple of other names but they all had "nicknames" so I decided on Justin because in the states, there really isn't a nickname for Justin.

 

[Grandma828]

Don't forget that Henry is french and when pronounced in english it sounds like Harry.

 

[Roslyn]

Don't forget that Henry is french and when pronounced in english it sounds like Harry.

But isn't the "H" not pronounced in French? Isn't it more like "Ongry", which is really nothing like Harry, in which the "H" is sounded clearly, followed by a short "a".

 

[Grandma828]

I will have to leave that to a native french speaker.

 

[Roslyn]

I will have to leave that to a native french speaker.

We must have a few of those here. Come out and play, francophones.

 

[Iluvbertie]

Just another perspective:

I am a teacher as many of you know and came across a family that decided rather than use the formal names - William, James, John and Henry for their sons - they baptised and registered them as Bill, Jim, Jack and Harry but...everytime the boys have tried to get things like a license or a passport, even with a 'certified' birth certificate they have a real problem convincing people that the birth certificate they hand over is genuine and one has even been stopped at an airport because the officials didn't believe that his name was actually 'Jim' and thought it was a forgery and that he was so stupid that he forged the document using his nickname rather than he formal name.

The situation ended up with at least one of the boys formally changing his official name from the nickname to the formal name for documentary purposes.

The girls didn't have the same problem with names Jane, Sue (not Susan but simply Sue) and Ellie (not Ellen or something like that).

 

[Kataryn]

It would be difficult to find a king with a worst reputation than Henry VIII, but there were seven other King Henrys before Henry VIII. One of them was the founder of Eton College, so it's not really such a bad name.

Henry I. was the son of William I.....

 

[Iluvbertie]

Henry I. was the son of William I.....

I hope you aren't suggesting that Eton College was founded by Henry I.

It was founded some 300 years after Henry V by Henry VI, son of Henry V.

 

[UserDane]

... I always felt if you were going to call the child something, you should name them that.

Exactly

 

[Kataryn]

I hope you aren't suggesting that Eton College was founded by Henry I.

It was founded some 300 years after Henry V by Henry VI, son of Henry V.

No, I was simply pointing out that there is a historical connection between the names William and Henry.

 

[Lee-Z]

IMO it's not that a different name is used, but the parents choose a (or several) official names and also the everyday name that will be used; the everyday name is nearly always derived from the birthname(s).
(A nickname might become in use later in life, but that's a different thing..)

 

[Viv]

But isn't the "H" not pronounced in French? Isn't it more like "Ongry", which is really nothing like Harry, in which the "H" is sounded clearly, followed by a short "a".

I'm only a so-so French speaker, but as a Dane with a somewhat Francophone royal family (and a Consort of that very name!) I have it on very good authority that the French pronunciation of 'Henry' is 'Angree/Ongrý' .
I can't think of any other case - royal or not - of naming a child one thing and calling it something else!
Pet/nicknames don't enter this category IMO.
Nor does the use of a consecutive Christian (or first) name have anything to do with it. - As someone mentioned, this is the result of a choice or a proces.

IMO it's a very British/American thing to have 'colloquial' nick/petnames for a number of names like Bill, Bob, Jim, Kate, Liz and the like. I my country we also use pet names but usually only for names with several syllables.

According to a name book of mine, Harry is a derivation of Henry. Maybe the answer is buried there?? If it is, I still don't get why Prince Harry wasn't named Harry properly. He's a spare! In case he ever acceded, he could always resolve to be known as King Henry.

viv

 

[Kataryn]

I personally believe they really wanted a "Harry" but for reasons unknown they had to give him a real "regal" name. Maybe HM intervened? After all, "Bonnie Prince Charlie" was officially Prince Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir Stuart...or, according to another source Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart...

 

[Lumutqueen]

I personally believe they really wanted a "Harry" but for reasons unknown they had to give him a real "regal" name. Maybe HM intervened?

I don't see how this would have worked, he's called Harry by his family and known by that name by the rest of the world. If HM intervened, there was clearly no point. There would have been nothing stopping them calling him Harry, even if he 'had' to become King he could have his pick of names and wouldn't need to fall back on Henry.

 

[Iluvbertie]

I can think of three or four occasions when the official name and the familly name was different within the British royal family.

Edward VII was baptised Albert Edward and ALWAYS called Bertie in the family from birth onwards, as was George VI. I suspect that the reason is similar (although of course with Edward VII there was also the case of having the same name as his father) but they both always were called by the normal colloquial name for the formal name.

Edward and Alexandra always called their eldest son Eddy - having wanted to name him Edward but being overruled by Victoria who insisted that he be baptised Albert Victor.

Edward VIII was always called David - from Day 1 but that was the last of his official names and he was officially referred to as Prince Edward.

It seems more common than some people realise.

 

[Kataryn]

Does somebody know a link to the official announcement that he is named Henry but called Harry? Or is that something Charles said and the media printed it as if it was an official announcement? And then the "Harry"-train started running? Just like it happened to Catherine, who, even though Catherine is her official name, was called by some (probably including William) Kate and the media decided she would be "Kate Middleton" in public?

 

[MARG]

Don't forget that Henry is French and when pronounced in English it sounds like Harry.

Particularly when you consider it is an historical application and old English and regional dialects were very different to that of today.

Maybe they just wanted people to call him by it's correct pronunciation and writing Harry expedites that just as when they called William Louis, as it is not his first name, they did not feel it necessary to explain how it is pronounced.

It is not, of course, Lewis!

 

[Viv]

Edward VIII was always called David - from Day 1 but that was the last of his official names and he was officially referred to as Prince Edward.

Well, at least it was an official name of his!
It's not the case of Prince Harry!

viv

 

[Lumutqueen]

Does somebody know a link to the official announcement that he is named Henry but called Harry? Or is that something Charles said and the media printed it as if it was an official announcement? And then the "Harry"-train started running? Just like it happened to Catherine, who, even though Catherine is her official name, was called by some (probably including William) Kate and the media decided she would be "Kate Middleton" in public?

The only link is this one, Hello, Harry! - Birth Announcements, Prince Harry, Princess Diana : People.com

I think the difference with calling Henry, Harry and calling Catherine, Kate is more of a nickname whereas Harry is not.

 

[Nice Nofret]

I'm from catholic background - so for us it is very normal to have 'proper' names put into your birth certificate; these names you use your whole live for diplomas, passports, jobapplications and so on.

You shouldn't have your pet-name in your paperwork - for me that sounds silly - and is bad in a professional environment.

Basically: grownups should have grownups name. What you call eachother is quite another thing

 

[padams2359]

In many instances, a nick name is chosen from an older sibling calling the younger sibling by another name. I am not sure how long after birth that Prince Harry was christened. It could be that William called him Harry, and they decided to let is stick. My family has always named unborn children, and it had nothing to do with the name they were given, except for my second son who was going to have the same first name whether he was a boy or a girl. The middle name was dependent on the sex.

 

[Winnie]

I'm from catholic background - so for us it is very normal to have 'proper' names put into your birth certificate; these names you use your whole live for diplomas, passports, jobapplications and so on.

You shouldn't have your pet-name in your paperwork - for me that sounds silly - and is bad in a professional environment.

Basically: grownups should have grownups name. What you call eachother is quite another thing

Quite correct. My cousin could not "officially" name her children the names she wanted because priest indicated they were not saints names. So their first name was after a saint but we all call them by the names she wanted. Most have forgotten their Christian name. You see there are outside influences that [at least years ago] directed the names of chidren. I really don't know if that still holds true today as I am not of that faith.

 

[padams2359]

At the time my parents were born, it was not uncommon for a priest to change a child's name if he did not think it was proper. It was up to the parents to have the birth certificate changed to match the baptismal certificate. I knew a man whose mother wanted to call him Jesse, and have James as his saint name. The priest changed his saint name to Paul.

 

[cinrit]

We must have a few of those here. Come out and play, francophones.

Here's the French pronunciation of "Henry". Click on the arrow next to "Audio Pronunciation"...

inogolo - Pronunciation of Henri : How to pronounce Henri

 

[kathia_sophia]

...Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but I remember the announcement at the time and I thought it was strange. I thought, 'If you're going to call him Harry, why don't you name him Harry?'

My point exactly!

i understand the tradition concept, but its all taste after all (putting aside the priest thing as the parent dont have much of choice). for my own taste i personally never liked "nicknames" or "derivations", if i have children i will always call them by their given name and not something else. Beatriz is very beautiful name in Portugal but i hate that ALL (all the Beatriz women that i know) are called Bia, i dislike it so much!!! the same goes to Margarida in Portugal, some are called Guida which is horrible, Margarida is a very soft, pretty and feminine name (its the case of my aunt Guida).

just as Rebafan81 said, if you were going to call the child something, you should name them that.

 

[AdmirerUS]

Have you yet discussed the whole Bertie/Albert/Edward progression? Edward VII, to me, will always be "Bertie." I probably got hooked on the British monarchy via the 1978 "Lillie" series by London Weekend Television. Of course, the Lillie/Bertie relationship was enthralling - but tastefully represented. The cast was excellent and the writing, not too bad. For those of you who have never seen it - seek out You Tube or whatever. It has many lovely period moments for Downton fans.

Oh - and for any and all explanation of the nickname issue, I suggest anyone pick up some PG Wodehouse; he caught the humor of the issue EVERY time.

I just learned Peter Egan, who played Oscar Wilde to perfection in the LILLIE series is Shrimpie in the XMAS season 3 Downton. LOL. Small world.

 

[ladongas]

AdmirerUS- If you enjoyed Lillie, there is another mini-series from the same period- Edward the King. I saw it when it was originally on and don't remember too much, other than I loved it!