Ship of Fools: Royal Baby Names

Thread: Royal Baby Names Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Kaplan Corday (# 16119) on :

Charlotte?

My brother-in-law, who has four daughters, resisted his wife's suggestion that they name one of them Charlotte because he foresaw her putting up with popular ditties about Charlotte the Harlot.

I was hoping (not very realistically)for a revival of Boadicea/Boudicca, while Mrs KC, in a similarly retro vein, was plumping for Matilda, as a feminist gesture of remorse for Henry I's daughter's being passed over in favour of her cousin Stephen after 1135.

Perhaps there is a good omen in the very happy marriage of George III with his wife Charlotte.

Posted by Lord Jestocost (# 12909) on :

Matilda being "passed over" plunged the country into 20 years of civil war, which she managed to fight to what was essentially a draw, so it's not like she took it lying down. Go girl.

How about Catherine Anne, as a tribute to the wronged wives of Henry VIII (boiled down to remove duplicates).

Posted by Uncle Pete (# 10422) on :

2 of three ain't bad. I was somewhat startled by Charlotte - I rather thought Alice was a strong contender.

Be that as it may, I hope the family pays for Charlotte (and Georgie-Porgie) out of their own funds rather than the taxpayers.

I fear, however, that that might be a forlorn hope.

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :

I think forlorn hope is a bit of a non-starter - how about odds of about several trillion to one?

Our friends who had their second baby, a girl, in the early hours of this morning are naming her Aliya, which I think is rather pretty.

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :

{tangent alert}

When I was in college, I knew a woman from Charlotte, NC. She had a sweatshirt with 'Charlotte' across the front. Unfortunately, the letters were too widely spaced, and when she had her arms forward, the shirt appeared to say 'harlot'.

{/tangent alert}

Moo

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Uncle Pete:
2 of three ain't bad. I was somewhat startled by Charlotte - I rather thought Alice was a strong contender.

Yes, Alice or Alix, or Alexandra would have been good. Charlotte usually gets shortened to Charlie, which is horrid, or Lottie, which isn't any better.

I suppose it was inevitable that she was going to acquire names of close family members, but being named for both her grandparents and her great-grandmother come across as more of a statement of filial duty than if they'd given the little girl names that were chosen specifically for her as a person. Admittedly, though, when it's a royal baby the available pool of names is always going to be restricted.

Posted by M. (# 3291) on :

Tangent:
The Crown is not paid for out of taxes. It's a grant based on the value of the Crown Estate.

M.

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

To be able to discern simply by looking at it that a one-day-old baby needs one name rather than another is a specific skill, one that I am ready to believe that William and Kate do not have. (I was all set to name my only son Jefferson Lawrence Clough, but my first glimpse of his newborn self revealed to me that this would be inappropriate, and he is now named Simon.)

Posted by Callan (# 525) on :

I rather thought Elizabeth and Diana might be in the mix and I rather regret not taking the effort to mention this in order to attain kudos for my powers of prescience.

Charlotte strikes me as a late addition.
"Kate, darling, we can't call her Elizabeth Diana. Particularly as the birth of E. D. will have been prefaced by your going into Labour"
"Well, frankly, I can't see what the problem was with calling her Nicola Leanne Natalie".
"Not that again. I still think that Victoria Olivia Tara Eglantine Taraminta Octavia Rebecca Yvonne is perfectly acceptable. As is Davina Arabella Victoria Elizabeth. Dad's very keen".
"Remind me who's popping this sprog! How about going with Elizabeth Diana but chucking in a random initial to throw the reptiles off the scent? Chardonnay Elizabeth Diana?"
"Good call. But Grandma's got Katie Hopkins coming over for tea next week and you know how she feels about Chardonnay".
"Charlotte?"
"Charlotte!"

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

Lottie?

An advert for the lottery?

Which that family will need when we sell off the palace to provide more hospitals.

Posted by Kaplan Corday (# 16119) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Moo:
{tangent alert}

When I was in college, I knew a woman from Charlotte, NC. She had a sweatshirt with 'Charlotte' across the front. Unfortunately, the letters were too widely spaced, and when she had her arms forward, the shirt appeared to say 'harlot'.

{/tangent alert}

Moo

(Tangent continuation)

A friend of ours with the surname Forbes had a sweat-top with FORBSIE across the chest which, when she wore it with a jacket, sometimes just left ORBS showing.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

Charlotte is apparently a family name on both sides - also in Kate's family. Anyway, their kid, their choice.

quote:
Originally posted by Callan:
"Not that again. I still think that Victoria Olivia Tara Eglantine Taraminta Octavia Rebecca Yvonne is perfectly acceptable. As is Davina Arabella Victoria Elizabeth. Dad's very keen".

Oh, very droll.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

Time was you named your daughter after somewhere you were important - eg Brilliana Harley, because her father was Governor of Brillat the time. (And who can forget Tilburina, heroine of The Spanish Armada?)

So little Cambridgea. Or, in a nod to the Other University, Isis.

Posted by Pomona (# 17175) on :

I may be confusing Charlotte with Caroline, but doesn't it have a Dukedom of Cambridge connection? Also Caroline is traditionally a derivative of Charles rather than Charlotte.

Posted by cattyish (# 7829) on :

You've made me think of my dear departed Auntie Lottie (Charlotte) Sinclair, née Banks, relative of the Joseph Banks who named half the flora in Australia. She was a fine lady, married to a scion of nobility (on the wrong side of the sheets) and she taught all over the English-speaking world while on her travels with her rather busy husband. She ended up gardening like the angels themselves just up the road from us in Caithness with her two joiner brothers in a house full of fascinating historical details unchanged since the 1920s. If this baby Charlotte has anything in common with Auntie Lottie then she'll be just fine.

Lottie kept a picture of the young Queen Elizabeth over her mantelpiece in the living room where she ate, slept and occasionally sat down by the fire. I think she'd be pleased that her name is back in fashion.

Cattyish, pondering past lovely people and new babies.

Posted by Ophicleide16 (# 16344) on :

I was hoping for a boy, and that they'd call it Æthelred.

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :

I predicted Charlotte!

Posted by Kaplan Corday (# 16119) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ophicleide16:
I was hoping for a boy, and that they'd call it Æthelred.

His mum's name, Aelfthryth, is due for a comeback, too.

Posted by Uncle Pete (# 10422) on :

I don't think people should get too fussed about a Cambridge connection (although George certainly is one).

Won't be long before she and her brother move up in the pecking order and become either ... of Cornwall or ... of Wales. (When Edward VII acceded to the throne, he waited 10 months before creating his heir Prince of Wales. In the interim the heir was known as Duke of Cornwall and York)

This rather opens the question of what to do with the step-grandmamma. Not my problem.

[ 06. May 2015, 00:29: Message edited by: Uncle Pete ]

Posted by ExclamationMark (# 14715) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Uncle Pete:
This rather opens the question of what to do with the step-grandmamma. Not my problem.

A convenient accident?

Posted by ExclamationMark (# 14715) on :

quote:
Originally posted by leo:
Which that family will need when we sell off the palace to provide more hospitals.

That's after we move the homeless in and/or charge them the bedroom tax. Good thinking Leo

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

My wife is a good left-leaning republican Scottish nationalist. But she seems much more interested in the doings of the (Anglo-German) Royal family than I am. [Confused]

[ 06. May 2015, 06:16: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]

Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :

I think they got it spot on.And HM will just have to suck it up that Diana is included.

Posted by Kaplan Corday (# 16119) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
My wife is a good left-leaning republican Scottish nationalist. But she seems much more interested in the doings of the (Anglo-German) Royal family than I am.

I'm a republican too, but it's great theatre with interesting historical background.

Posted by betjemaniac (# 17618) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Time was you named your daughter after somewhere you were important - eg Brilliana Harley, because her father was Governor of Brillat the time. (And who can forget Tilburina, heroine of The Spanish Armada?)

So little Cambridgea. Or, in a nod to the Other University, Isis.

surely the nod to the other place would make her Goldie?
[Big Grin]

Posted by betjemaniac (# 17618) on :

or just Tab? Prefix-other-than-Princess optional.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

quote:
Originally posted by betjemaniac:

quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:

So little Cambridgea. Or, in a nod to the Other University, Isis.
surely the nod to the other place would make her Goldie?

No, I think Goldie would be a nod to the same place. Isis is the Oxford 2nd eight. Though either appellation would license the remark 'Tis pity she's an oar.

Posted by betjemaniac (# 17618) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:

quote:
Originally posted by betjemaniac:

quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:

So little Cambridgea. Or, in a nod to the Other University, Isis.
surely the nod to the other place would make her Goldie?

No, I think Goldie would be a nod to the same place. Isis is the Oxford 2nd eight. Though either appellation would license the remark 'Tis pity she's an oar.

sorry, I knew what I meant - which was what you meant.

I must have been having a moment - what was going through my head was:

"If Isis is an option then shouldn't Goldie be?"

not what was going through my fingers though, clearly.

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

How about Camlet?

Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
How about Camlet?

Camlets are a local virtual currency used to trade skills, from music lessons to babysitting. You advertise your skills in camlet units and build up a balance that you can exchange. Never done it myself but I know people who did a few years ago.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
How about Camlet?

Or Camilla?

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

There's a gravestone in Ayr of a Hamilla Hamilton.
I had a good look to see if it could possibly be a Camilla, but no, definitely Hamilla.

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

Camelot.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Chorister:
Camelot.

We're back to Lottie(ry)

Posted by Gee D (# 13815) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
How about Camlet?

Camlette, surely.

200 or more years since George and Charlotte (George III and his queen of course).

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

There is of course also Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince Regent, who sadly died in childbirth in 1817. Her child was stillborn but would have been a son. Had they both lived, they would have been successively queen and king. We would have a quite different royal family descended from her in stead of Victoria.

Posted by Uncle Pete (# 10422) on :

Re Charlotte: She was married to Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha, Victoria's beloved Uncle. He subsequently became King of the Belgians and his heirs are the current Belgian Royal house. He was Lutheran, but his children were Catholics. He was also the Prince Consort's Uncle. Close bred family they were.

So it is not just the UK whose history would have been different. The Belgians too.

Until he went to Belgium, dearest Uncle lived at Claremont House.

We need someone to write an alternate history for the Saxe-Cobourg-Gothians

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

If you have read King & Joker and its sequel Skeleton In Waiting by Peter Dickinson, they are mystery novels, set in a modern alternate-royals England. In these bookos King Edward VII's oldest son survives to become King Victor I, begetting another son and a grandson, both who become King. Wonderful books, I only wish he had written more in the series.

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

Item in the news today. A Japanese zoo has a competition each year to name a baby monkey. This year's competition seemed to be going to choose Elsa, until a weekend surge produced Charlotte instead, followed by another surge of people (Japanese) protesting that it looked disrespectful and was shaming of Japan - how would they feel if London Zoo named a baby monkey after one of their princesses?

Posted by luvanddaisies (# 5761) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Isis is the Oxford 2nd eight. Though either appellation would license the remark 'Tis pity she's an oar.

But seriously - look what they had to do the the doggie in Downton called Isis... [Ultra confused]

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