Baby’s middle name points (literally) to a daddy’s boy
IT HAS long been a royal – and especially American tradition – to name children after their fathers, yet in choosing the name Archie Harrison Mountbatten-windsor, Harry and Meghan have once again confounded expectation.
With just £100 staked on the name – at 100-1 – the Duke and Duchess put personal preference over precedent, echoing most parents when naming a newborn by simply opting for a name they liked, according to Palace insiders.
Literally meaning son of Harry, a royal source confirmed the father-son connection did indeed inspire the middle name – rather than an appreciation of Harrison Ford, the Star Wars actor (although both Harry and William are avid fans).
Of German origin, meaning “genuine”, “bold” and “brave”, amusingly Archie is the pseudonym reportedly adopted by Prince George when he is out and about in public.
According to a tabloid newspaper, the five-year-old told a dog walker his name was Archie during an encounter in Bucklebury with his maternal grandmother Carole Middleton.
The name has become increasingly popular in recent years. According to the Office for National Statistics, it was the 18th most popular in England and Wales in 2017, with 2,803 baby boys called Archie that year.
Harrison is slightly more popular than Archie in the US, while in the UK it was ranked the 34th most-popular boy’s name two years ago.
Famous Archies include the Englishborn American actor Cary Grant, whose real name was Archibald Leach although the royal couple have opted for the abbreviated form of the name, even though Harry was officially christened a more formal Henry.
As historian Prof Kate Williams pointed out, the name Archie could also be a nod to Meghan’s Africanamerican heritage.
Archibald Mafeje was a great scholar of Africa and social anthropology who became known as an “intellectual pathfinder”. Born in Ngcobo in South Africa in 1936 and affectionately known simply as “Archie” he championed the pan-africanist ideal that Africans should speak for themselves and understand themselves through their own efforts in the face of apartheid. She also suggested the name may have been inspired by R&B singer Archie Bell or the saxophonist Archie Shepp.
Other Archies in popular culture include Archie Panjabi, who starred in The Good Wife, Archie Andrews in the Archie comics in America and Archie Mitchell, a villain in Eastenders.
Mountbatten-windsor has only been the family name of the royals since the Sixties, after the Duke of Edinburgh insisted his descendants bear his family name.
It was not until 1960 that the Queen told the privy council that all descendants – other than her children, or those entitled to use the HRH style, or the descendants of female family members who marry – would bear the surname Mountbatten-windsor.