As a fledgling name nerd, I remember being fascinated by the name Elizabeth.  It was so elaborate, so odd for a name that had been so widely used over so many centuries.  John, sure, that was a name simple and straightforward enough for the masses to get behind.  Anne and Mary, of course they had what it took to transcend the ups and downs of fashion.  But Elizabeth, with its long E beginning and lisping ending, its bizarre z in the middle and its four freaking syllables?  I don’t think so!

And yet the unlikely Elizabeth has endured.  It’s the only girls’ name to have remained in the Top 25 (okay, 26) throughout entire recorded American baby-naming history, since 1880.  Elizabeth hit its nadir in 1945, when it dipped to number 26, but it should be noted that its short form Betty was Number 11 that year, after having been in the Top 10 since 1921.  Even when Elizabeth and her sisters were relatively unpopular, they were everywhere.

Elizabeth, which means “pledged to God,” springs from the ancient Hebrew custom of referencing God — or El — in a name’s prefix or suffix. The ancient Hebrew form of the name is Elisheva.

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When Henry was chosen as the #1 favorite boy’s name on the collective 5-star lists of the nameberry community, I was somewhat surprised and yet somewhat not.  Because in many ways Henry is the perfect boy’s name—as classic and historic as James and John and William –yet with a quirkier edge that makes it seem modern, and even hip.

Henry has a lot going for it.  Let us count the ways:

HENRY IS POPULAR, WELL-LIKED, BUT NOT EPIDEMICALLY TRENDY.

At #78 on the Social Security list last year, Henry was given to fewer than 4,000 boys across the country.  It was much more commonly heard in the past, having been #10 in 1900, 12 in the 1910s, 18 in the twenties, 25 in the thirties, then dipping to a low of 146 in 1994, after which it started its edge back up.

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As reported in the not always reliable Star magazine, Nicole Richie, mother of Harlow Winter Kate, has at the top of her list of names for her baby-to-be Baron, inspired by Donald Trump’s little Barron.  (Her other two published possibilities being Kypher and Martavious, about which I’ll restrain my comments).  This is the latest evidence of a disturbing trendlet among celebs–Hollywood royalty taking their status literally and bestowing noble titles on their offspring.

So who are these little peers and peeresses of the realm?

At the top of the ranks would be King.  Discounting Kingston Rossdale, whose nickname might be King, there is the son of rapper Jayceon (The Game) Taylor. Since The Game’s other nicknames include The California King and King of the West, what could be more logical than to have named his second son King Justice?

Next in line to the throne would be a Prince.  Michael Jackson liked the idea of starting a royal line so much that he named both his sons Prince Michael Jackson–I born in 1997 and II (aka Blanket) in 2002. Not to be outdone, British model Katie Price (aka Jordan) and pop star husband Peter Andre called their little princess Princess (”Princess because she is our little princess”) Tiaamii, with Mum expressing ing her intention of commemorating the regal birth by getting a Princess and crown tattoo on her neck.

Both Diane Keaton and Justine Bateman have sons named Duke, but somehow this name doesn’t project the same air of entitlement or pretension to royalty the others do, probably because Duke has long been used as a laid-back nickname name, and because it was so much associated with anything-but-aristocratic John Wayne–who got his nickname from  the family dog  that used to follow him around: the dog was known as “Big Duke” and young Marion Morrison as “Little Duke.”

A couple of celebs have used variations on the title Marquis.  Rapper 50 Cent chose the Marquise version; David Caruso used Marquez–the surname of his son’s mother.

Though the British don’t have the rank of Count (it’s equivalent to an earl, and somehow My Name is Earl doesn’t have much of a royal ring)–show biz does. Never one to hide his light under a bushel, Danny Bonaduce has a son named Count Dante Jean-Michel Valentine and a daughter called Countess Isabella Michaela.

How much have other parents been picking up on this noble-name trend?   Well, King, Prince, Princess, Baron, and three different spellings of Marquis are all on the current popularity list, but pretty near the bottom, each with under 500 anointed babies nationwide.  And, personally–it would be fine with me if they didn’t rise any higher.

The other day we talked about Princess Names, but what if the royal baby in your family is male?  Then you might need one of the Prince Names, and Charming is probably not going to cut it.

There are a handful of appealing names that mean “prince.”  Brendan is Irish, Mael is Breton, while Vladimir is Slavic for “renowned prince.”  Armel, the name of a Welsh saint who founded abbeys in Brittany, means “stone prince” in French, while Adhit is an Indonesian name with that meaning.

Prince itself is of course also a name, chosen by Michael Jackson for his son — though if you choose it, you’d have to put up with an awful lot of “formerly known as” jokes.  Better bets: King, Duke, or maybe even Earl.

Fictional princes who might prove inspirational include:

Caspian – Prince who is the rightful king in The Chronicles of Narnia.

Edvard “Eddie” – Danish prince posing as Wisconsin exchange student in deathless 2004 classic “The Prince and Me.”

Erik – The Prince in The Little Mermaid.

Moses – Biblical baby raised as a prince.

Paris – The Trojan prince who wooed the beautiful Helen, though a certain modern female Paris may knock this ancient royal name out of the running for boys.

Phillip – Sleeping Beauty’s paramour.

William “Will” — The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

And then there are the little princes born to actual royal families over the past decade or so, with William.html”>prince names equally imposing as those of their princess counterparts.  I’m especially intrigued by Aymeric, Valdemar, Casimir, Marius, Emmanuel, Froilan, Felix, Baudouin, and Sverre.

Achilleas Andreas — Greece

Aristide Stavros – Greece

Aymeric Auguste Marie — Belgium

Carlos — Spain

Christian Valdemar Henri John – Denmark

Claus-Casimir Bernhard Marius Max — Netherlands

Emmanuel Léopold Guillaume François Marie – Belgium

Felipe Juan Froilan — Spain

Felix Henrik Valdemar Christian –Denmark

Friedrich Richard Oscar Jefferson — Denmark

Gabriel Baudouin Charles Marie — Belgium

Hisahito — Japan

James Alexander Philip Theo – Great Britain

Juan Valentín — Spain

Konstantinos Alexios — Greece

Lucas Maurits Pieter Henri — Netherlands

Miguel – Spain

Nicolas Casimir Marie – Belgium

Nikolai William Alexander Frederik — Denmark

Odysseas Kimon — Greece

Pablo Nicolas – Spain

Samuel “Sam” Bernhard Louis — Netherlands

Sverre Magnus — Norway