Royal Names (Stuarts)

The Stuart dynasty died out with the death of Queen Anne.. and the German Hanoverian line took over. Queen Anne’s younger half Brother, known to Jacobites as James III was barred because of his Catholicism. 

The next Protestant heir was Sophia of Hanover, daughter of Elizabeth Stuart, James I’s daughter… Sophia was married to a German prince.. She died shortly before Anne -so the throne went to her son, George I.  The arrival of the Hanoverian kings brought in Germanic names.  The Stuarts had usually married Catholic princesses from France or Italy.. And this brought in more exotic names.

The Stuarts were Scottish and their first King of England was named James, like many of his ancestors.  He had several children but his 2 sons who grew to adulthood were Henry and Charles.  Henry died young so the throne went to Charles.. But the 3 names, Henry James and Charles were common in the Stuart family….

Henry was of course the name of 8 previous kings.. and means “home ruler”.  James is a version of the biblical name Jacob.. which was Latinised as Jacobus or Jacomus..   

Charles is from a German name meaning “man”.. But it came into the Stuart family in the French version “Charles”.  Mary queen of Scots had been married to Francis II of France and when she had a son (James I), she named him Charles James after his godfather Charles IX of France.. her former brother in law.

 Charles I son of James I married a French princess Henriette Maria of France.. and their youngest daughter was named Henrietta Anne.. (known as Minette)… Henrietta Maria was named after her father Henri IV of France.  her name was considered foreign and was not that popular…

Other Stuart female names were the ever popular Mary and Elizabeth. The second last Stuart queen was Mary… (who was followed by her sister Anne) and James I and Charles I each had daughters called Elizabeth.

 After the exile of the Stuart dynasty, and the departure of James II to France, they still had supporters in England and Scotland who wished for a return of the dynasty and who supported uprisings to get rid of the Hanovers.  These were known as Jacobites.  Some of them called their daughters after the Pro Stuart movement by giving them the names Jacoba or Jacobina