The meaning behind royal baby's name: Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor
It's official! On Wednesday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced that the name of their son, who was born in Frogmore Cottage in the early hours of Monday, May 6, was Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
It suffices to say that, Archie, who will be seventh in line to the throne, was not the name most bookmakers predicted — in fact, most had Albert and Arthur as the frontrunners, though they can take solace in knowing they got the first alphabet correct.
But what does the name mean?
According to nameberry.com, Archie is a name of German origin that means 'truly brave.' The same website has described it as an "amiably retro nickname name" and stated that it had made a big comeback in the UK in recent years.
In fact, Archie is reportedly one of the top 20 names for boys and began gaining popularity after Amy Poehler and Will Arnett gave their second son the name, though unlike Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, they did put the full name, 'Archibald,' on the birth certificate.
The name does also have ties to the British Royal Family, though it's not the kind of tie you would expect. It was reported that, at the start of this year, Prince George apparently told a dog walker that he was called 'Archie.'
According to The Sun, the incident took place when Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's five-year-old son was out with his grandmother Carole Middleton and a dog walker came across him playing with his younger sister Charlotte in a stream near the Middleton family home in Berkshire.
The woman, who did not want to be named, said at the time, "I was asked by a police minder not to take a photo of the children, which I didn’t, but George started stroking my dog. Just to be friendly I engaged in a bit of small talk and I asked George what his name was, even though obviously I knew it."
"To my astonishment, he said, 'I'm called Archie,' with a big smile on his face," she continued. " don’t know why he calls himself Archie but kids often play with their names and I think it’s lovely."
As for Mountbatten-Windsor, it is the personal surname used by some of the male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, with the British monarchy asserting that the name be used by members of the Royal Family who do not have a surname when a surname is required.
The royal family's official website also states that the name applies to male-line descendants of the Queen without royal styles and titles as per a declaration made in Privy Council in 1960.
