Hip hip hooray! It's the wedding day of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex!
To celebrate (in true British patriotic style), today I'm going to delve deeper into the names of the happy couple.
Prince Harry's full name is Henry Charles Albert David.
Henry is a name borne by no fewer than eight kings of England; Charles honours his father; Albert was the first name of his great-grandfather (Queen Elizabeth's father, George VI) and David was one of the names of King Edward VIII — and the name he was known by in the Royal family.
Origin:
Though, in the Prince's case, Harry is used as a diminutive of Henry, it was originally Henry's standard English vernacular form.
The name started out as the Old High German name Heimerich, composed of the elements heim "home" and rīhhi "ruler". It was Latinised as Henricus, from which came the French Henri. The Normans brought Henri with them to Britain where it was pronounced "Harry" or "Herry" in Middle English.
By the 19th century, Harry and Henry had distinct pronunciations, and Harry was being used as a diminutive of both Henry and Harold. There are, however, still parts of Britain today where the local dialect turns Henry into "Herry" or "Harry."
Usage:
As Harry was the standard English vernacular form of Henri/Henry, it is rarely found in written documents. The great number of surnames derived from it however, such as Harris, Harrison and Parry, attest to its usage. Henry's medieval petform Hal, and its diminutive Halkin, also preserves Harry's 'a'.
For Harry's popularity then, we need to look at Henry. Redmond's popularity ranking, puts Henry at #6 in England from 1377-81 and Smith Bannister's popularity rankings have it consistently ranking between #6 and #11 from 1538 to 1700. [For more information see the Name of the Week post on Henry].
By the 16th and 17th century, Harry has more of a presence in written documents, and was beginning to see more use in its own right — most likely as Henry began to develop a separate pronunciation — though the two were still closely linked.
Harry's popularity was very consistent in the 19th century. Mostly, it sat happily in the top 20 in England and Wales, ranking #25 in 1850, #18 in 1860, #16 in 1870, #18 in 1880, and #15 both 1890 and 1900.
It also ranked #38 in Scotland in 1900.
Data from the 1881 census (right) shows that, although Harry was in good use in Scotland and Wales, most of its usage was in England.
Its popularity per 100,000 people shows that it was also very evenly distributed across England.
It is fair to say that, as it was so extremely popularly there, Harry became a quintessentially English name. No wonder Harry was listed alongside Tom and Dick in the well known phrase meaning 'men in general'.
The fate of both Harry and Henry were very similar in the 20th century.
In 1904, Harry was #18 in England and Wales, while Henry was just above at #17. Both saw a steep decline, and by 1954 Henry was #84 and Harry was clinging on to #100. After that, both names fell out of the top 100.
In Scotland, Harry ranked #68 in 1950, but had also fallen out of their top 100 by 1975.
This is not very surprising. By the 1960s Harry had moved into the "old man name" category. In 1958, for example, rock and roll star Harry Webb changed his common old-fashioned name for the much more edgy "Cliff Richard". The men born in Harry and Henry's turn-of-the-century height were, by that time, the First World War veterans, and quite literally the "grandfathers" of the young generation.
From not ranking at all in the top 100 at all in 1984, Harry had miraculously leapt to #30 in 1994. The reason almost certainly lies with the birth of the Prince Harry in September 1984.
Harry was steadily rising in England and Wales in the 1990s and this rise was further helped by a famous British wizard named Harry Potter. the first book of which was published in 1997 and the first film was released in 2001.
In 1996, Harry ranked #17 with 4434 births. By 2001, 5662 boys were given the name (#6) and 6143 by 2009 (#3). It reached the number #1 spot in both 2011 and 2012.
In 2012, 7168 boys were given the name, ranking at #1.
In Scotland, Harry was also on the rise. It ranked #58 in 2005, #43 in 2007, #30 in 2009, #9 in 2011, #8 in 2012 and #10 in 2013 with 299 births.
After ranking at #3 in 2014 and 2015 in England and Wales, in 2016, Harry moved up again to #2 with 5284 births.
Meghan's full name is Rachel Meghan Markle. She was born in Los Angeles, California in 1981.
Her name is a variant spelling Megan which, in 1981 when she was borb, was #33 in America, while Meghan was #116.
While Megan became a fashionable choice in the 1910s and 1920s in Britain, it took a while to be exported over to America, first ranking in their top 1000 in 1952.
From that point on, however, Megan's rise was dramatic: reaching the top 100 in 1975 and was in the top 15 from 1984 to 2002. Meghan was also in the American top 100 from 1983 to 1994, though its highest rank was #63 in 1985.
After 2002, Megan began to decline in America, leaving the top 100 in 2009. In 2017, Megan ranked #499 and Meghan was #883.
Origin:
Megan is a Welsh diminutive form of Margaret. itself an anglicised form of the Latin Margarita, from the Greek margarites "pearl."
The medieval short form Megge -- in use from the 13th century -- was given the Welsh feminine diminutive -an, also found in Bethan, Betsan and Pegan.
Usage:
By its nature as a diminutive, paper evidence for Megan in use is hard to come by, as many early Megans would have been formally registered in records as Margaret.
The spelling Megen, however, can be found as early as 1547, appearing in Wyllyam Salesbury's A Dictionary in Englyshe and Welshe.
The name also became the title of a romantic Welsh folk song Merch Megan or Wyres Megan, often translated into English as Megan's Fair Daughter or The Daughter of Megan, which tells the tale of a man's adoration and unrequited love for Megan's daughter. It appeared in John Parry's Twelve Airs for one and two Guitars in 1781 and Edward Jones' The Bardic Museum in 1802.
By the 19th century, when diminutive forms began to be given in their own right, we see Megan in more and more use. As a standalone name it was rather uncommon, and was seemingly much more used as an actual nickname than records suggest. It was mostly confined to Wales, though there were a few registrations in England.
Births in England and Wales:
1840s: 0 births
1850s: 3 births
1860s: 1 birth
1870s: 4 births
1880s: 7 births
1890s: 18 births
1900s: 151 births
1910s: 2918 births
1920s: 3845 births
1930s: 1960 births
1940s: 1524 births
1950s: 840 births
1960s: 565 births
Megan picked up more independent usage in the 1890s, ramped up in use in the early 1900s, exploded in the 1910s, and peaked in the 1920s. This coincided with not only the revival of Celtic names in Wales (some would have preferred Welsh Megan to anglicised Margaret), and the increased use of registering diminutive forms.
It is interesting to note that, though already rising, Megan saw a marked increase after 1908 when Welsh politician David Lloyd George became Chancellor of the Exchequer, and another increase again when he became Prime Minister in 1916.
His youngest daughter was named Megan, born in 1902, most likely after her mother Margaret. His other children were named Richard, Mair, Olwen and Gwilym, clearly showing a preference for Welsh-heritage names.
Megan was a sweet little girl, and was often photographed on outings with her parents and mentioned in newspaper reports.
Megan herself went into politics, becoming the first female Member of Parliament for a Welsh constituency in 1929, and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party 1949-1952. She campaigned for a Welsh Parliament and was named a Companion of Honour posthumously in 1966.
The 1920s also saw the fame of celebrated Welsh mezzo-soprano opera singer Leila Megane, born Margaret Jones (1891-1960) who may well also have glamourised the name.
Dunkling's data per 10,000 births in England and Wales shows how Megan saw a dramatic rise by the end of the 20th century:
| 1900 | 1925 | 1935 | 1950 | 1955 | 1960 | 1965 | 1970 | 1975 | 1980 | 1985 | 1990 |
| - | 4 | 2 | - | - | 8 | - | 2 | - | 2 | 8 | 52 |
From that time, in England, the name began to decrease in use, which has had a big effect on the overall rankings of England and Wales. However, in Wales individually, Megan increased in use, ranking #1 in 2004, 2005 and 2006.In England and Wales, Megan joined the top 100 in England and Wales at #17 in 1994. It was #5 by 1997 and peaked at #3 from 1998 to 2001.
In the combined rankings of England and Wales, Megan left the top 10 in 2004 and the top 20 in 2009. However, in Wales alone, Megan was still in the top 10 until 2011.
In Scotland, Megan reached the top 100 at #87 in 1987 and was in the top 10 by 1994. It peaked at #2 in 1998 after which it steadily declined.
In 2016, Megan ranked #31 in Wales (84 births), #90 in England (574 births) -- #89 combined. In 2017, it ranked #75 (60 births) in Scotland.
