Harry and Meghan shocked many when they announced the name of their first child. While Archie is actually a quite common name in the U.K., cracking the Top 20 list of names for boys in 2017, it’s rare among the royal family.
The couple has yet to publicly comment on whether or not Archie is short for Archibald, though it doesn’t seem likely as their Instagram post announcing his name didn’t suggest it was a nickname. According to nameberry.com, Archie means “truly brave” and is of German origin.
The choice even stumped royal experts, with historian Marlene Koenig telling E! News, “This is a most unusual choice [of name], but I am not surprised because I have said that they would go out of the box. There are no Archies or Archibalds in the family. I have said a few times that the parents of non-royals seem to have more leeway, more freedom.” (It is worth noting that Princee Diana has an ancestor named Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll of Scotland.)
There is one surprising connection Archie has to the royal family, that comes from an unexpected source: Prince George, who told a woman back in January that his nickname was Archie. Was it actually a spoiler?!
“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,” the woman told The Sun. “To my astonishment he said ‘I’m called Archie’ with a big smile on his face. I don’t know why he calls himself Archie but kids often play with their names and I think it’s lovely.”
As for the rest of Baby Sussex’s name: Harrison literally means “son of Harry,” while Mountbatten is the adopted surname of Prince Philip, and Windsor is the last name of the queen’s male-line descendants who do not have royal styles and titles. After her ascension, Queen Elizabeth combined their surnames, with all future descendants taking on the hyphenated name.