Meghan and Harry announced Baby Sussex’s name today, and we can’t stop talking about the newest royal.
Star: ARCHIE HARRISON!!!!
Lynda: I had predicted Theodore Philip Grey, but Archie Harrison is great! I have to say, I was surprised by the choice but pleasantly surprised. It’s SO British. And yet it’s also kinda American, which I also love.
Star: So… I was shocked. Mostly because they presented him as Archie instead of using a more formal name.
Lynda: I felt the same way! I assume British Royal Family = FORMAL. Even though with a name like Archibald, I imagine that child would never go by anything but Archie.
Star: Totally agree. But Archie is completely trend-forward. I’m not at all surprised by the style of name they chose. We suggested August and Theodore on the blog, and Auggie, Gus, and Theo are very similar to Archie. They’re all old man names. 🙂
Lynda: I do love the old man names! Archie Harrison also brings to my mind some great associations that I personally love. Because spiritually I appear to have been born in the 1930s instead of 1980s, Archie makes me think of Archibald Leach, aka Cary Grant, and Harrison (besides being literally, “Harry’s son”) makes me think of George Harrison.
Star: Both great associations. I think it’s hilarious that they went so literal with Harrison. That must’ve been intentional?
Lynda: I hope so! But Harrison is generally just a great name. It makes sense though to be for that reason. I can’t think of any Harrisons that are important to either family unless they just adore Harrison Ford (which, I mean, I do, personally, and Meghan was an actress and Harry loves Star Wars, at least enough to have filmed a cameo as a stormtrooper in The Last Jedi).
Star: Harrison just seems to be on our radar lately, for some reason. I really like Harris.
Lynda: Going back to the fact that they named him Archie versus Archibald. Do you think that’s going to be or is a trend? That parents will give the nickname as a full name as to ensure that that is what the child is known by? For instance, I love the name Millie, but Millicent? Not as much. But I also like the idea of giving a child the option of the formal and informal names, and so when my husband and I were naming our daughter, I didn’t include Millie on my list because of my lack of enthusiasm about Millicent.
Star: Absolutely. We’re seeing nickname-names cropping up everywhere in 2019. And my husband and I had the EXACT same Millie/Millicent conversation.
Lynda: I remember discussing it with you! We tried very hard to come up with other longer names that would translate into Millie, like Camille, right?
Star: Right! Nicknames are so popular as given names now that parents are actually starting with the short form and then searching for formal names (that they often don’t like as much) just to justify the nickname. We’ll call it the Millie/Millicent phenomenon. 🙂 I know we often recommend putting the more formal version of a name on the birth certificate, instead of a nickname, but not if it means choosing a name you don’t like! It’ll be interesting to see if the royal couple did in fact name him Archie. Or if they just introduced him by his nickname on Instagram.
Lynda: Do you think Archie (or Harrison) will now start to climb the popularity charts? (Archie/Archibald doesn’t break the US top 1000; Harrison is just on the outskirts of the top 100.) It’s outside the norm enough that I think it could have an effect versus say, George or Louis, which are pretty traditional names for the British Royal Family (Charlotte was already pretty popular before Princess Charlotte was born).
Star: I think both will, because celebrity baby names tend to do that, especially when they are already following current baby name trends. Parents in the US are increasingly choosing vintage names, nickname-names, AND surname-names. But with Archie, it’s so uncommon in the US that it’ll be strongly associated with this child, which can make it less wearable. They will definitely be credited with bringing this one out of obscurity.
Lynda: And I think Archie fits well with his cousins George, Charlotte, and Louis. The names still all work together for that generation. Another baby, another great name.
Welcome to the world, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor! And congrats to the royal family!
Readers, what do you think?