Archie?! American comic book character, and now latest royal baby

LOS ANGELES: Archie, the comic book character? Or Archie Bunker, American television’s bad-tempered bigot from the 1970s?

The choice of Archie as the name for Britain’s newest royal baby sent social media into a tailspin on Wednesday and confused Americans who associate the name with two of the nation’s biggest pop culture figures, and their pets.

The #Archie hashtag became the top trending item on Twitter soon after Prince Harry and his American wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, announced they were naming their two-day-old son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.

While Archie is one of the 20 most popular names for baby boys in Britain, it is not widely used for American children.

In the United States, thoughts tend to go to Archie Andrews, the popular all American red-haired teenager who made his debut in Archie Comics in 1941 as a high school football player.

“They named #BabySussex Archie. This will all make more sense if he has red hair,” Canadian horror fiction writer Susie Moloney said in a Twitter post, apparently referring to Harry’s red hair.

Many Americans also recall the less likeable Archie Bunker from the 1970s television comedy series, All in the Family.

Played by actor Carroll O’Connor, Bunker was a gruff, blue collar worker with a habit of making racist and misogynist remarks.

“The only Archie I ever knew. Ugh!” tweeted a user.

For others, Archie is better known as a popular name for cats and dogs.

“This is our Archie when he was a baby, 7 years ago,” tweeted another user next to a video of his labrador puppy.