Archie's name isn't what you might expect of a royal, but it's not without precedent

Email Was Archie named by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry after one of these Archibalds? By Michael Collett and Emily Sakzewski
Photo: Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex hold baby Archie.
Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
That's not the name anyone was expecting for the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, with most pundits having expected something more traditionally royal-sounding like Arthur or Albert.
But given the birth was announced on Instagram and Meghan decided against the traditional immediate post-birth photo-op with her newborn, maybe we should have been expecting something a little bit different.
However, the name isn't without precedent among the aristocracy of the British Isles.
While Archie can be a name in its own right (and it seems like that's the case with Baby Sussex), it nevertheless derives from Archibald, a mix between the old German name Ercanbald and old English name Eorcanbeald — 'eorcan' meaning genuine and precious and 'beald' meaning bold.
The Germanic version was brought to Britain by the Normans, but the name became more common in medieval Scotland where it developed its own Gaelic version.
Meanwhile, Harrison is an English name which literally means 'son of Harry', perhaps an intentional nod to Archie's father Prince Harry.
There have been men by the name of Archibald in the House of Stewart (later the House of Stuart), while the name could also be a nod to Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, reportedly an ancestor of Princess Diana.
Here's some background on two of the more famous noble Archibalds.
Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus (1489-1557)
He inherited that title from his grandfather, also Archibald Douglas (nobles tend to be less creative with their naming than the Duke and Duchess of Sussex).
Photo: Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus and husband of Margaret Tudor.
Douglas was the lord chancellor of Scotland, but his real claim to historical fame was being the second husband of Margaret Tudor.
She was quite the catch, being the daughter of the King of England, Henry VII. You've probably also heard of her first husband, James IV, the King of Scotland.
Douglas and Tudor married less than a year after James IV died in the Battle of Flodden (1513) between the kingdoms of Scotland and England (which England won).
This marriage didn't work out so well for Tudor, leading to her replacement as regent of the kingdom of Scotland by John Stewart, second Duke of Albany (basically, a sail-in from France).
She fled to England, Douglas took a mistress, and they eventually got divorced.
But while it wasn't the happiest of marriages by the end, it had a lasting legacy.
Their daughter, Lady Margaret Douglas (again, not the most inspired name), was the mother of Henry Stuart, who married Mary, Queen of Scots, and went on to become the father of James Charles Stuart, the King of Scotland (as James VI) and the King of England and Ireland (as James I).
Archiba

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