Origin: |
Albertine is a French, Swiss and Dutch feminine form of Albert. Albert itself derives from two cognate names: the old Germanic Adalberaht (Adalbert) and the Anglo-Saxon Æðelbeorht (Ethelbert). The former was introduced to Britain by the Normans where it largely replaced its Old English counterpart. Both names were descended from the Proto-Germanic elements *athala- "noble" and *berhta- "bright." |
Usage: |
From the 17th century as a name among Dutch, German and later French and Swiss nobility. Albertine Agnes of Nassau (1634-1696), was a daughter of the Dutch ruler Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange who became regent of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe in her own right. She is pictured (right) with her parents, holding the hand of her sister Henriette Catherine (1637-1708) who married into German nobility, and whose own eldest daughter was Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Anhalt-Dessau (1683-1742). Though it wasn't particularly prolific, there are several other examples of the name being used in German and Dutch nobilty. Some of them like Albertine Agnes of Nassau -- such as Countess Sophia Albertine of Erbach-Erbach (1683-1742) and Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1713–1761) -- acted as regents for their provinces. It was also influentially borne by Albertine Necker de Saussure (1766-1841), the daughter and wife of noted Swiss botanists, who campaigned and wrote extensively about women's rights to education. Her principal work, L'Education Progressive (1828), was a long and influential study on educational theory and the education of women and was influential in nineteenth century England in reforming educational policy. It is now acknowledged as an educational classic. Beyond the elite, Albertine can be found in baptism records across Germany, Prussia, Belgium and the Netherlands from the mid-17th century. A few early examples in Britain, such as this baptism for a Susanne Albertine Carle in 1697 in London, shows that it was used primarily among French Hugenot families and largely was confined within London. Despite its Anglo-Saxon heritage and reinforcement by the Normans, Albert itself had been little used in Britain until the marriage in 1840 of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819-1861). The impact on the name Albert was marked. Albert went from not appearing in Dunkling's top 50 names fro either 1700 or 1800, yet by 1860 it was #19 and was #9 by 1890. As the Victorians loved to used feminised forms of names for their daughters, Albertine and Albertina became much more established names in Britain during the 19th century thanks to the success of the masculine Albert. Albertina was the more popular form (as the births below show) as the Latinised -a ending was a more common convention in Britain. Births in England and Wales:
The name was quite consistent in use up until the 1920s when it saw a sharp decline. By the 1940s, many examples of the name Albertina are for children born to Italian immigrant parents. Albertine is also a very literary name. In 1886, Norwegian author and artist Christian Krohg wrote a novel Albertine about the life of the unmarried seamstress Albertine, who is eventually forced into prostitution after being assaulted due to the social system of the time. The book caused great controversy, and was immediately confiscated by order of the Supreme Court of Norway leading to a demonstration, held outside Prime Minister Johan Sverdrup's office in January 1887, which gathered 5,000 protesters. Thanks to the novel and the debate that followed it, public prostitution in Norway was soon after abolished. Another influential literary charcter is Albertine Simonet, the most important character in Marcel Proust’s seven-volume novel In Search of Lost Time (1913-1927). The same character is also the basis for Jacqueline Rose's novel Albertine (2001) and the 2003 musical My Life With Albertine by Ricky Ian Gordon. The character was also the inspiration for the name of the Albertine rose, a wichuraiana rambler bred in France in 1921 by one of the Barbier brothers. The Albertine is one of the most popular roses of all thanks to its strong sweet perfume, coppery pink colour, and full and hardy bloom. Since 1996, Albertine has only ranked three times in the official England and Wales name data: #3409 (4 births) in 2002; #5876 in 2012 (3 births); and #4684 (4 births) in 2014. This is not the name's only use however, as the data only lists names given to three or more babies in any given year. Birth records show that there was one birth in each year in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005 and also several examples as a middle name. Albertina is less common, and hasn't ranked in the data at all. Neither form of the name has been registered in Scotland from 1974-2014. |
Famous Bearers: |
History: * Countess Albertine Agnes of Nassau (1634-1696), a regent of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe, daughter of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. Contemporary: * Viv Albertine (born 1955), British singer and songwriter. Literature and Other Media: * Albertine (1886), a novel by Norwegian author and artist Christian Krohg. Other: * Albertine, a popular sweet-smelling rambling rose. |
Variants: |
Albertina |
Pronunciation: |
al-bə-TEEN [key] |
Possible diminutive: |
Allie, Albie, Aline, Bertie, Tina, Beattie, Bettie, Rose, Rosie |
Sibling Names: |
Edwina Corisande Lavinia Eglantine Clotilde Dolores |
Name Lists: |
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Thanks to Prue for requesting this post.