Royal Names again

I haven't blogged about names for a long time, so I thought I'd write a little bit about royal names, especially the more unusual ones. Rupert is the name of the son of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, a romantic figure who was the sister of Charles I. Her daughter Sophia was the mother of George I. Rupert was a famous cavalry officer who fought on the Royalist side in the Civil Wars. He settled in England and became interested in science like his cousin Charles II. The name is a Germanic version of Robert and means bright fame... but it has not been used by any other British royals. Another rarely used royal name is Stephen, which was the name of Henry I's nephew who claimed the throne when Henry died without a male heir. He engaged in a civil war with Maud, who was Henry's daughter and who also claimed the throne. His name was a Greek one and means crown, but has never been used by a British royal since. European royal families have a lot of Gabriels, Nicolases, Alexanders, Louis, Jean/Juan, and Charleses. One unusual one is Rainier, which was the name of the late Prince of Monaco, who was married to Grace Kelly. Philip has various forms, the present King of Spain is Felipe. The Belgian king is Philippe, and the late Prince Philip was of Danish origin. I hope to write some more blogs about royal names, soon.