Names of the Belgian Royals

[Prinsara]

Originally Posted by Tatiana Maria

Is Leopold viewed as a reusable name for a future royal prince, or have the actions of Leopold II, and to a lesser degree Leopold III, ended its viability as a royal name for the foreseeable future?

I am aware of Princess Esmeralda's son Leopoldo Moncada, but he was raised outside of the realm as a private citizen and is probably not considered to be royal.

You mean as a first name, since (due to Somebody's excellent chart in post #17) we currently have Philippe Leopold on the throne, and his son Emmanuel Leopold even more recently?

There may not be enough enthusiasm or nerve to have an actual "Prince Leopold", but it clearly hasn't turned into some kind of taboo. I honestly think "Leopold" is associated with such a broad amount in Belgium that there could be a Leopold IV in a few generations/someday, always assuming monarchy and country persist.

[Tatiana Maria]

Originally Posted by Prinsara

You mean as a first name, since (due to Somebody's excellent chart in post #17) we currently have Philippe Leopold on the throne, and his son Emmanuel Leopold even more recently?

There may not be enough enthusiasm or nerve to have an actual "Prince Leopold", but it clearly hasn't turned into some kind of taboo. I honestly think "Leopold" is associated with such a broad amount in Belgium that there could be a Leopold IV in a few generations/someday, always assuming monarchy and country persist.

Yes, I meant as the name that is used in practice. It is one thing to include it in a string of names on a birth certificate, but if Prince Emmanuel announced that going forward he wishes to be known as Prince Leopold/Léopold or if King Philippe proclaimed himself King Leopold IV, I wonder if there would be negative comment.

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

For the Rooyal Belgians it is better to have a name which is not different from french and Dutch
Leopold = Leopold
Philippe = Filip
Baudouin = Baudewijn
Charles = Karel
Astrid = Astrid
Laurent = Laurent
Elisabeth = Elisabeth
Gabriel = Gabriel
Emmanuel = Emmanuel
Eléonore = Eléonore.

I think the Dutch versions of the names Laurent and Eléonore would by tradition be Laurens and Eleonora respectively. In their cases, the Royal Family made the decision to use the French versions even when writing in Dutch.

Oddly enough, a Dutch version is used for Eléonore's oldest brother, who is officially called Gabriël in Dutch.

[maria-olivia]

I am sorry but Laurens and Eleonora are no Belgian Dutch names .

[Tatiana Maria]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

I am sorry but Laurens and Eleonora are no Belgian Dutch names .

What would be the Belgian Dutch versions of those names?

[Prinsara]

Originally Posted by Tatiana Maria

It is one thing to include it in a string of names on a birth certificate

Try that when the name is "Adolf". If it were at that level of negative specificity and potential public outrage, I think the name would not be used at all.

but if Prince Emmanuel announced that going forward he wishes to be known as Prince Leopold/Léopold or if King Philippe proclaimed himself King Leopold IV, I wonder if there would be negative comment.

Since it is, and continues to be, in easily-sensitized Belgium, it would seem perhaps it doesn't have automatically negative or problematic connotations. Emmanuel is almost surely not going to be a major player in the monarchy, so I imagine it would be about the same level of interest as the Dutch prince wanting to be simply "Friso".

Philippe? Other than people thinking he was a bit strange, I'm inclined to say no (two long reigns since the Question Royale and his father Albert is the current biggest source of embarrassment) – perhaps they would have simply wished him better luck than the last two Leopold kings and a poor prince?

[Tatiana Maria]

Originally Posted by Prinsara

Try that when the name is "Adolf". If it were at that level of negative specificity and potential public outrage, I think the name would not be used at all.

I'm not familiar with how much public outrage exists in Belgium over children having "Adolf" as one of their names, so I can't comment on the comparison. I was only wondering whether Leopold is for practical purposes excluded from the list of names usable for Belgian royals in the foreseeable future.

Originally Posted by Prinsara

Since it is, and continues to be, in easily-sensitized Belgium, it would seem perhaps it doesn't have automatically negative or problematic connotations. Emmanuel is almost surely not going to be a major player in the monarchy, so I imagine it would be about the same level of interest as the Dutch prince wanting to be simply "Friso".

Philippe? Other than people thinking he was a bit strange, I'm inclined to say no (two long reigns since the Question Royale and his father Albert is the current biggest source of embarrassment) – perhaps they would have simply wished him better luck than the last two Leopold kings and a poor prince?

Yes, if there is any potential for negativity over a Prince/King Leopold, I could imagine the seniority of the royal and (in the event of adopting the name as an adult) his reputation influencing the outcome.

[Somebody]

Unfortunately, when logged in I still cannot visit the second page of this thread but Tatiana Maria suggested that also future female monarchs should go back in history to find 'monarch's names'.

I would suggest the name 'Margaretha' in that case as the best contender for a future queen: history counts 3 reigning countesses of Flanders with this name.

[Somebody]

Originally Posted by Tatiana Maria

I think the Dutch versions of the names Laurent and Eléonore would by tradition be Laurens and Eleonora respectively. In their cases, the Royal Family made the decision to use the French versions even when writing in Dutch.

Oddly enough, a Dutch version is used for Eléonore's oldest brother, who is officially called Gabriël in Dutch.

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

I am sorry but Laurens and Eleonora are no Belgian Dutch names .

Originally Posted by Tatiana Maria

What would be the Belgian Dutch versions of those names?

Found a list from 2007 and Laurens is listed at 134 (47 babies) for Flanders and 249 (48 babies) for Belgium in total. Laurent is on the list for Belgium at 741 (12 babies) and at 1028 (4 babies) for Flanders. So, I think we can safely conclude that Laurens is indeed the Flemish/Dutch name for Laurent, not just in the Netherlands but also in Belgium.

Neither the name Eléonore nor Eleonora were given to any child in 2007 (it probably rose in popularity when one year later a princess was given this name). However, Eléonore with the 'é', clearly isn't Dutch/Flemish but French; whether the final letter would be an e or an a (a would probably considered slightly more old-fashioned), it would without a doubt be without the accent on the second e.

As I don't know which sources to use for Belgium, I checked the Dutch Meertens Instituut: Eleonora was given 20 times in 2007 (to keep the same year of reference), Eleonore 9 times and Eléonore 'too few times to produce a popularity graph'; however, it does indicate that if the name appears it is mostly by those born in France.

Edit: Found something for Belgium (StatBel):
Popularity of Eleonora in Flanders: between 10-20 births per year (prior to the princess' birth it was about 5 a year)
Popularity of Eleonore in Flanders: between 5-10 births per year (the name is even less popular in Wallonia)
(Unfortunately, they don't distinguish between names with and without accent aigu)
So, it seems that Eleonora is the preferred version in Flemish/Dutch.

[CyrilVladisla]

There have been three Counts of Flanders named Robert. Robert could be used for the name of the King of the Belgians.