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6 royal baby names that broke British tradition: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle caused a stir with ‘Lilibet Diana’ – but so did Zara Tindall, Princess Anne and Peter Phillips

STORYTracey Furniss
Meghan Markle with her son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, Princess Eugenie’s son August Philip Hawke Brooksbank and Zara Tindall with her daughter Lena. Photos: @princesseugenie; @zara_tindall/Instagram
Following the fallout to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s latest controversy, the naming of their second child Lilibet Diana – the intimate nickname used to address Queen Elizabeth by her grandfather King George V, father King George VI, husband Prince Philip and a few close relatives – we look at a few other royal names that strayed from tradition, causing a few raised eyebrows at the time.

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Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, with their son Archie on day three of their tour of Africa in September 2019. Photo: PA Wire/DPA

Team Sussex struck again: the duke and duchess’ choice of name for their first born Archie Harrison, now aged two, blindsided most bookies whose odds veered towards more classic royal names.

Expedia collated a list of the most popular British royal names of the past 200 years and the top five are Albert (No 1 with 12 uses), George (10), Charles (eight), Edward (seven) and Christian (five).

Meghan Markle, Prince Harry and their son Archie Harrison. Photo: @archieharrison.mountbatten/Instagram
It was not too surprising that the royal rebels chose to go against tradition though.

Archie means “archer” and Harrison means “son of Harry”. And if Prince Charles becomes king, Harry and Meghan’s son might just become the first Prince Archie.

August Philip Hawke Brooksbank

 
Princess Eugenie – daughter of the queen’s second son Prince Andrew and his former wife Sarah Ferguson – and her husband Jack Brooksbank chose the name August for their first born in February this year.
Although August might sound like a modern name, he is actually named after Augustus, the middle name of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband. Of his middle names, Philip is for his great-grandfather Prince Philip, of course, and Hawke is in honour of his paternal ancestor Reverend Edward Hawke Brooksbank.

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Savannah and Isla Phillips

Savannah and Isla Phillips with their parents Peter and Autumn. Photo: @itsislaphillips/Instagram

Queen Elizabeth’s first grandson Peter Phillips named his little ones Savannah and Isla; Savannah, 10, means “open plain” and Isla, aged nine, means “island”. Grandchildren to Princess Anne, they are 18th and 19th in line to the British throne.

These names are another departure from more traditional options; Expedia’s most common royal female names over the past few centuries are Victoria (No 1, nine uses), Mary (seven), Louise (six), Alexandra (six) and Elizabeth (five).

Zara Tindall

Mike and Zara Tindall arrive for the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle in Windsor, near London, England in May 2018. Photo: AP

Arguably one of the first rebels to break ranks from classic royal names, the queen’s daughter Princess Anne named her only daughter Zara in 1981. Although the name Zara is common in the UK, it was not among the royals. Zara means “flower” or “princess” and it was her uncle Prince Charles who helped choose the name.

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Lena Tindall

Lena Tindall with her mother Zara. Photo: @zara_tindall/Instagram

The daughter of Zara and Mike Tindall and great-granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth, Lena (she turns three on June 18), pronounced “lay-na”, means “she that allures” in Latin and “sunlight” in Greek. Her mother Zara told the British press that she and her husband originally wanted to name her Elena, but they realised her initials would have been E.T., so they decided on Lena.

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  • Only Prince Philip and a few close relatives called Queen Elizabeth ‘Lilibet’ – but even Archie was considered a break with convention just two years ago
  • Princess Eugenie named her son August after the middle name of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, while Prince Charles chose his niece Zara Tindall’s name