Hello.
I am back with a royal baby name post. This one is a little different, because I’m not talking about the British or Swedish royal families. I am discussing the Luxembourg royals.
The Duchy of Luxembourg is an old and small region; they have a Grand Duke or Duchess at the head of the royal house. At the moment, the head of the royal Luxembourg family is Grand Duke Henri and his wife Maria Teresa Mestre y Batista. They have five children, the eldest is the Hereditary Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg and his wife Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy. They have two young sons Prince Charles (2021) and Prince Francois (2023).
Princess Alexandra is pretty low on the succession line to the throne, she has three brothers and their children ahead of her, so, despite the fact that Her Royal Highness has two other princess titles, including Princess of Nassau and Princess of Bourbon-Parma, her children and their descendants will not have a title to carry on. Now, I could be wrong as there are other Princesses’ children who have inherited a royal title, but nowadays and the fact her husband Nicolas Bagory is a commoner, there isn’t a real need for them to have any titles at all.
One of the interesting things about doing this post peculiarly is that the Luxembourg royal family are Catholics, there are some saintly names that could be used, but keeping in mind that Maria and Marie are used in both sexes. There’s also huge possibility they will name their child after family members mainly part of their middle names.
For this post, I wanted to guess the first name, based off of 24 elegant but uncommon names I thought could be in the running for this little bundle of joy, but also arrange it with familiar names of the House of Luxembourg.
We will start off with the girl names, and I thought these names would allow the couple to branch out of what is expected of them. So, I will pull four names from the banner above and talk about why I think it is a great way to be original, but totally beautiful to be a part of the Luxembourg royals.
Alix – I found this name years ago. It is a way to share the mother’s name but keep it unique too. My only concern is how one would be able to pronounce it. I think “Al-ex” can mimic the phrase “like mother, like daughter” whereas “A-il-ce” brings out a feminine, sweet side of a daughter born in the springtime.
It has been used in the past, Princess Alix of Hesse (Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia) the daughter of Princess Alice (daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. She was given the German way of Alice, which is why I added the pronunciation of Alice. I think it would be an interesting dedication to Luxembourg as a whole since German is part of the region’s official languages.
Clementine – One of the reasons why I added Clementine into the running is because most people associate it with the season of spring. It is highly popular name on most trending lists. I tend to go back and forth on my liking of it, but I find it could be way to honor the saint and pope, Clement. I don’t like this form of the name but bringing the “ine” at the end always makes it seem like a bit of luxury.
Clementine was at one point a popular royal name, mainly in the 18th and Centuries, you have Princess Clémentine of Orléans who was born in early June of 1817, and Princess Clémentine of Belgium. She was born and 1872 was probably knew about the other Princess Clémentine, but they wouldn’t be too close as there is a fairly large gap in between them. However, they would know the French language and talk to each other easily even if they didn’t visit too often.
Isabeau – What I truly love about this name is that it’s unique in its own way. It’s totally underrated as it is passed up by others that resemble it to the Isabel/Isabella or Elisabeth/Elizabeth variations as these are commonly used over the years. I pronounce it as “Is-za-bow” and that’s the way I’ve said it for several years now, so I wouldn’t be totally shocked if I was saying it wrong completely.
This variation does have some royal ties, mainly based in the Middle Ages. She was known as Isabeau of Bavaria and became Queen of France in 1385. Isabeau was the mother of two daughters who married into the English kings, Isabella of Valois was married to Richard II as a child bride as many royal children of that time. Another daughter Catherine of Valois, she was the mother of Henry V (The Lancastrian King) and had a secret marriage with the Keeper of the Wardrobe Owen Tudor, marking at the start to the Tudor Dynasty.
Sandrine – Now let’s explore a non-royal type of name: Sandrine. I found this one back in 2015, and I was having issues with its pronunciation, but I think it’s simple enough to say, “Sand-REEN” it can be a very bold name on its own, but I find that it’s pretty, and screams posh to me but most important it can be something different from what we believe can be a royal name in general.
This can be used as an honor name, for their mother like I said for Alix, but I find this way to be more French inspired and since the Luxembourg family has descendants in a few other royal houses, the one variation is Alexandrine. I know of five Princess Alexandrine in the past, but if you were to put an A at the end, you could name her after Queen Victoria as her family and governess had always called her “Alexandrina” or “Drina” before she became Queen in 1837.
When it comes to the boys’ side, I really thought about the saints and the long list of Grand Dukes of the past. There is a big possibility that Henri or Guillaume could be in the running for the middle names, but I just wish we had a little more information about the father’s side of the family to see if they take any inspiration from a grandparent, great-uncle or even a godfather. Despite this, I still picked out four names that I think could be interesting for the couple.
Baptist – I’m not a religious person, but I know how important “Baptist” or “Baptiste” is to most cultures and regions. I find the name itself to be high on the unique side since the name itself does not turn up on most royal children, especially with present day baby royals, If you look into the past Brazil, Italy, Portugal, and Spanish royal lines have they had a whole range of names to honor specific saints – some families would give the opposite sex the same middle names as previous children who died in infancy or childhood.
What I think is cool to keep in mind was it also honors the Grand Duchess. A part of her surname does end with “Baptista” so If this child turns out to be a little Princess this could be a neat way to bring her grandmother at the front, but to keep it on this side, the names Baptist Henri Maria, doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me.
Ferdinand – Ferdinand is another uncommon name, because most couples are into shorter names nowadays, which sucks because I really love longer names, royal or not, they are an absolute favorite of mine. It would be nice to see a longer name, one that would work great with its new cousin Prince Balthasar.
The name itself has had a long history with Catholic royal families. You have Ferdinand of Aragon at the heart of the royal name. He was the husband of Isabella I of Castille, and they were parents to Queen Joanna, the Mad and their youngest daughter Catalina married into the English kings. She married Arthur, Prince of Wales, and after his death, and the death of Henry VII Catherine ended up marrying the new reigning king Henry VIII.
The most recent was Ferdinand, Hereditary Prince of Denmark. He was the grandson of King Ferdinand V, but after the prince died, the Danish throne was passed to his nephew Frederick VIII in 1848.
Maximilian – I have been a lover of Maximilian for a long time. I remember when I was in school, I had two boys with the name “Max” but I didn’t hear this version until probably 2008. It’s only because Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony named their son Maximilian and I just fell in love with it.
Maximilian is another old name from many, many royal houses of Europe. It was very popular amongst the Habsburgs, in fact. Queen Marie Antoinette had a younger brother with the name, Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria.
This is a masculine name for a boy of this age. I like to think it’s uncommon now and that is why I chose for this list, but it’s also one you can twist for a baby girl as it is usually spelled “Maximilienne”. This variation is perfect for a couple that is worldly, Princess Alexandra knows a wide array of languages, so this could be great if she is looking for a French inspired name, but I definitely prefer the male variation and it would be neat to see it come back.
Sacha – I apologize for not including the fourth boy name when I first published this post. I thought I had, especially since this was the first name that popped in my mind when I was creating the early drafts.
We think of the name Sacha as a nickname, as it’s usually used for Alexander or in this case, Alexandra, but it is rarely used as a first name. I love it and this spelling is very gender-neutral, kind of like “Alix” and “Baptist”.
As far as I know, the only “royal” Sasha is the grandson of Princess Caroline of Monaco and her first husband Stefano Casiraghi. His full name is Alexandre Andrea Stefano Casiraghi, son of Andrea Casiraghi and his wife Tatiana Santo Domingo. However, there are other male and royal “Alexanders” throughout history. The most known is probably the Crown Prince of Yugoslavia and it is well-beloved name within the Slavic royal houses of Russia with both sexes.
To be perfectly honest, I will probably enjoy any name(s) they choose for this little baby. If they haven’t picked out their names yet, I’m sure they’ll find something that will suit he or she soon enough and they shouldn’t panic too much about it.
If you’re looking for a name for your child that is to be born in the spring, I hope this post inspires you to look outside the box. There are other regal names than Charlotte, Archie, Gabriel, Christian, etc. The best name for your child will come to you, like when the baby decides its ready to make into the world. For any expected mothers out there, I hope you have a safe labor and delivery, and hope you heal, and the baby thrive beautifully afterwards.
Do you have any guesses for the Princess Alexandra and her husband Nicolas’s baby? Leave your answers in the comments below.
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