Why was Prince Harry named Henry at birth but then became widely known as Harry?

[SecondSpare]

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, was born and christened with the name Henry Charles Albert David, but has long been known and referred to as Harry since his year of birth. I assume this is widely known by most MNers, but perhaps not amongst the general public. I have always wondered if not wanting to be called by his actual birth name was due to the notoriety of previous royal Henrys - particularly Henry VIII, perhaps the most notorious of all British monarchs. But if that was the case, why wasn't he given the name Harry from birth?

Queen Victoria's name was actually Alexandrina but she chose to use her middle name when she became monarch.

Well I had no idea Harry was a nickname for Henry, and had no idea Harry was actually called Henry !

One of my grandfathers brothers was Henry known as Harry. Probably born in the early 1920’s.

I think Henry VIII himself may have been informally known as ‘Prince Harry’ too.

It no different to saying his name is Benjamin to be called Ben. A formal full name on the birth certificate and a known by diminutive.

I LOVE that Daisy is derived from Margaret.
For those who don't know, marguerite is french for daisy.

Really?!

Did you know Jack is for John, Jim for James, Ted for Edward, Bob for Robert, Bill for William?

They are Henry and Rachel I guess but known as Harry and Meghan (obviously) Lillibet was the Queens nickname wasn’t it?

lol well my Oxford educated husband has never given it a thought!

how did you not know his name is henry

Harry has, for hundreds of years, been a nick name for Henry.
Prince Harry's parents announced at his birth that they would call Prince Henry by the nick name Harry.

So Harry didn't choose his own nick name.

Just like Jack for John
Bill for William
Jim for James
Bob for Robert
Charley for Charles
Betty for Elizabeth
Meg for Margaret
Maisie for Mary
Ronnie for Ronald
Dick for Richard
Hattie for Harriet
Archie for Archibald.

The late queen's father was called Albert, but took the name George when he became king.

George was one of his names - he was Albert Frederick Arthur George.

Queen Victoria wanted all her descendants to have Albert or Victoria as one of their names, but neither Edward VII (also known as Bertie) nor George V nor Edward VIII (known as David) nor George VI wanted to be King Albert.

Shakespeare also uses Hal for Prince Henry, before he became Henry V. Hal is a diminutive of Harry, like Del for Derek and Sal for Sarah.

This is like those threads where people confess to blindingly obvious stuff they somehow remained totally unaware of until well into adulthood, like the Channel Tunnel not actually being a glass tube that allows you to wave at fish and envelope necks on babygros being designed so you can roll the entire garment down over the child's body if needed, rather than drag a soiled horrorfest off over the baby's head.

My grandad was Henry, known as Harry.

As per Cosmopolitan magazine:

In a statement to the Telegraph confirming the name of their new venture, the Sussexes said:
"Before SussexRoyal, came the idea of 'Arche' - the Greek word meaning 'source of action'. We connected to this concept for the charitable organisation we hoped to build one day, and it became the inspiration for our son’s name. To do something of meaning, to do something that matters."
The same article points out that Harrison (Archie's middle name) means so of Harry ...

And before this, people made the link with one of Harry's commanding officers, Maj. Tom Archer-Burton, known as Archie.

Yes, I remember this too.

My grandad was Henry, known as Harry.

I had an Uncle Harry who really was Harold.
(But yes, I always knew that Prince Harry was really Henry, and Harry is a common nickname for Henry.)

And Bill Clinton was sworn in as William Jefferson Clinton.

my brother goes by Harry, but his official name is Harold,
my sister is goes by Katie, officially Kathleen
my husband goes by Kit - official name Christopher
I have a cousin who goes by Max - full name Maxwell

this is a fairly normal thing no?

As previous posters have said, Harry for Henry goes back far into history for the Royal family. More recently, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the late Queen's uncle, was also known as Harry.

Harry, Hal, Hank (if you’re American) are all diminutives of Henry. Not sure how anyone doesn’t know this. It’s all over Shakespeare.

then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.

There’s a pub near me called The Great Harry, which I think is named for one of Henry VIII’s warships.

Harry is sometimes Harold too as in Harold Evans, the great newspaper editor, who also went by Harry.

You just have to look at the baby name threads to see how normal it is to give a name and use another day to day. Never made any sense to me but each to their own

Well, it made more sense in the past when there was a far smaller name pool and children tended to be called after immediate family members, so were distinguished on a daily basis by diminutives.

I agree with you that the Mn baby name forum tendency where someone someone posts that they want to call their child Nancy, and what could that be short for, or they want to call their child Kit but don't like Christopher and could Kit be short for Sebastian or Richard, is quite mad.

why is Dick short for Richard? Or Bob for Robert?
nicknames are strange. The name Elizabeth must have more variations than most - Beth, Betty, Eliza, Liz, Lizzy

@Clearinguptheclutter "My Cambridge educated 48 yo husband is convinced that Harry is short for Harold not Henry."

And he's right. Harry is definitely short for Harold. But it's also been an interchangeable name for Henry since medieval times. All the King Henries of England were more often than not called Harry in everyday speak. It evolved as the French (Norman) name Henri became corrupted through the newly developing English language.

There’s a pub near me called The Great Harry, which I think is named for one of Henry VIII’s warships.

Yes, the Great Harry, otherwise the Henry Grace à Dieu, built at Woolwich, which I'm guessing is where your pub is. (Also guessing it's a Spoons.)

why is Dick short for Richard? Or Bob for Robert?

Edward - Ned, Ted
William - Bill
Margaret - Peg
Ellen etc - Nell
Oliver - Noll
and probably others I can't think of at the moment.