More royal names

Zara is the name of Princess Anne's daughter, and was considered very unusual for a royal child at the time of her birth. The name's meaning is obscure, but is probably derived from the Arabic for flower, Zahr. Zara's children are called Mia, Lena Elizabeth, and Lucas Philip. Lena is short for Elena which is a Slavic version of Helen. Beatrice, the name of the late queen's second grand daughter is a royal name, used by Queen Victoria for her youngest child. The name means bringer of joy or blessing... it is a Latinate name. There were a few Beatrices in the Royal family, in Victoria's day, and Sarah Duchess Of York chose the name, having written books about queen Victoria. The name can be abbreviated to Trixie, or Beatie or Bea. Beatrice's sister Eugenie was also given an old fashioned Victorian name Eugenie. It is unusual, but it was the name of Princess Beatrice's daughter, Victoria Eugenie, who became queen of Spain. She was named after the French Empress Eugenie who lived in England and was friends with queen Victoria. Beatrice's first daughter has been named Siena Elizabeth, after the queen and presumably because the name Siena was liked by the parents. This year, Beatrice had another daughter, named Athena Rose Elizabeth. Athena is the name of the goddess who founded Athens. Rose is probably in memory of Princess Margaret, whose second name was Rose. Eugenie's son has been named August which was one of the names of Prince Albert, the Prince Consort. Her second son is called Ernest which was the name of Prince Albert's brother.

Royal brides names in Georgian times

The Georges married German princesses, and George II and George IV both married Carolines so the name began to be used among the upper classes. It is a feminine version of Charles as well and means man. Caroline of Anspach, the wife of George II was a clever woman and reasonably well liked, as she was a better ruler than her husband, who was devoted to her. Caroline of Brunswick was a foolish vulgar woman. But her husband George IV was even worse than her, and he treated her so badly that she became very popular with the masses. The name is still popular, and can be abbreviated to Caro, Carrie, Linny, Lina. William IV married Princess Adelaide, a much younger German princess. She only had 2 children who died in infancy. But she was a good wife, and was kind to his many illegitimate children. The name means noble kind, it never became all that popular, but was used in Victorian times. It can be abbreviated as Addy, Della, and Laidy. Philippa of Hainault was the wife of Edward III - she produced a large family and was well loved, her name was used by many royals at the time. It means Horse lover and can be abbreviated to Phil, or Pippa. Another foreign bride was Catherine of Braganza, who was a Portuguese princess who married Charles II. Her name means pure and there have been other Catherines as queen, including 3 of Henry VIII's wives.

Royal Brides Names

Brides marrying into the Royal family brought in new names which often became very popular. Queen Alexandra was of Danish and German origin, and as Princess of Wales and Queen she was well loved, for her kindliness, beauty and charity work. Her name was used by other British royals, including Princess Alexandra of Kent. Alexandra was known in the family as Alix. THe name became quite popular in the UK and has abbreviations such as Alex, Sandra, Lexi and Sandy. Another name from a foreign queen was Eleanor. Two medieval French princesses who married into the Royal family were called Eleanor and the name spread. It was used by many British Princesses and upper class women. Abbreviations include Ellie, and Nell. A much less popular name was the wife of Charles I, Henrietta Maria. Her name was so foreign sounding that she was known as Queen Mary, and her name was not much used. She was a deeply unpopular queen because of her Catholic French background. The name means Home ruler, and can be abbreviated to Hetty. Charlotte was a well liked name, which came into the Royal family via Queen Charlotte, wife of George III. She was a homely woman, but she was queen for a very long time and the name became popular among the upper classes. It is the feminine of Charles which means man, and can be abbreviated to Charlie, or Lottie. At present, we have Princess Charlotte the daughter of Prince William whose name may derive from her grandfather, Charles.

Royal names for women

There have been several queens in British history, the longest reigning of course were Victoria and hte late Elizabeth II. The others were Elizabeth I, the two Queen Marys, and Queen Anne. The name Victoria was new to the British royals, Victoria was named after her German mother Victoire, the name meant Victory. Victoria wanted all her female descendants to have her name but by the time Elizabeth II was born the family abandoned this practice and she was Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. Most of Victoria's daughters and grand daughters, did have the Victoria in their names. They included Victoria of Prussia, known as Moretta, Victoria Alberta of Hesse, Princess Victoria, Edward VII's daughter, (Toria), Victoria Melita of Edinburgh, Princess Helena Victoria (Thora) and many others. Edward VII's three daughters were called Louise, after her grandmother, Victoria after queen VIctoria and Maud, an old English name. The name Maud came from the Empress Maud or Matilda who was Henry I's daughter and the mother of Henry II. The name passed into the Norwegian royal family when Princess Maud married the King of Norway. Anne and Mary Stuart did not have any surviving daughters and Mary I didn't have any children.

Royal Names

Charles is the third king of that name in the UK, but the name Charles is very popular among royals in Europe. The King of Sweden is Carl Gustav and his son is Carl Philip. The Former king of Romania was King Carol II... and Juan Carlos was the former king of Spain. The name means Man and has been well known in the UK for centuries. Several kings of France were also called Charles. Charles I and Charles II in the Uk were rather unsuccessful so the name was not used for a long time. Another Stuart name was James which was popular for Kings of Scotland. James I of England was the son of Mary queen of Scots.. and his grandson was James II who was forced into exile. The Stuarts were not popular in England with the English, due to their absolutist tendencies. So the name James was not used again for a royal, until Prince Edward's son in the 2000s. The name comes from the Hebrew Jacob, which means supplanter and is a bible name... Another Stuart name was Henry, which was not used for a long time until George V's son was Henry. Henry means home ruler and was also the name of Stuart and Plantagenet kings.

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.

Mary Lavelle Part IV

Mary and Juan go off for a day togehter and Don Pablo finds a postcard that Juan gave to Mary as a souvenir, but which she lost. He realises that there is something going on between his son and the beautiful Irish girl. He worries about his son and has come to love Mary. Juan and Mary find a secluded spot and make love, her first time. She tells him that she is going to go to London and find a job. He tells her he will see her again but she's not sure if this is the end of their romance. Meanwhile Don Pablo, who has heart trouble is fretting at home and forgets his pills, and he has a heart attack. Juan comes home to find his father dying, and Mary returns to Ireland. Both of them feel guilty that perhaps he knew of their love and it upset him.... and that he tried to stay alive to see Juan. The novel ends ambivalently, with only one happy couple, Pedro a Spanish shopkeeper and Rosie, Mary's Irish governess friend, who have defied the social conventions and married.