Announcements of births/deaths/weddings/anniversaries in the Habsburg family

[Greenowl]

oops! I posted without attempting to reply to the first part of your question. To the best of my knowledge, Archduke Georg lives in Budapest. Equally, the Empire was known after 1867 as the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, and the Emperor was also King of Hungary....thus I assume they wish to remember those links......

[MarieCharlotte]

There is a statue of Marcus d'Aviano in front of the Kaisergruft in Vienna where most of the members of the Austrian Imperial Family were laid to rest. I read at the website www.kaisergruft.at that Marcus d'Aviano is buried at the Kapuzinerkirche. So I guess there is a strong connection between this man and the Habsburgs.

Besides that, I don't think that the names of Otto's daughters sound "Hungarian". Michaela, Monika, Andrea, Gabriela and Walburga are names that are very frequently used in Germany. But I find it a bit strange, that Otto and his wife Regina chose such "modern" names instead of traditional names which have been used in the family before (I think of Anna, Elisabeth and Maria Theresia for example). Archduke Karl was named after Karl I., his grandfather - that's for sure.

[Sir Ralph of Stradbrooke]

I didn't say the daughters of Otto had Hungarian-sounding names, but these grandchildren specifically:


Ferdinand Zvonimir Maria Balthus Keith Michal Otto Antal Bahnam Leonhard, (b.Salzburg 21 Jun 1997)

Zsófia Mária Tatjana Monika Erzsébet Katalin (b.Budapest 12 Jan 2001)

Ildiko Maria Walburga (b.Budapest 6 Jun 2002)

Károly-Konstantin Mihály István Maria (b.Budapest 20 Jul 2004)

[MarieCharlotte]

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't read your post correctly. 

[britt.25]

There is a statue of Marcus d'Aviano in front of the Kaisergruft in Vienna where most of the members of the Austrian Imperial Family were laid to rest. I read at the website www.kaisergruft.at that Marcus d'Aviano is buried at the Kapuzinerkirche. So I guess there is a strong connection between this man and the Habsburgs.

Besides that, I don't think that the names of Otto's daughters sound "Hungarian". Michaela, Monika, Andrea, Gabriela and Walburga are names that are very frequently used in Germany. But I find it a bit strange, that Otto and his wife Regina chose such "modern" names instead of traditional names which have been used in the family before (I think of Anna, Elisabeth and Maria Theresia for example). Archduke Karl was named after Karl I., his grandfather - that's for sure.

I once thought the same before. The names of Ottos children - apart from Karl- are almost all names, which are not common among the Habsburgs family, especially not in earlier times. But I seem to remember that I once read about the backgounds of the names, at least about Gabriela. But at the moment I cannot remember the site, where it was. Is there maybe any connection to earlier Habsburg names amoung second or third names of Ottos son´s and daughters? I should take a look at genealogies, would be interesting.

[MarieCharlotte]

Andrea Maria

Monika Maria Roberta Antonia Raphaela

Michaela Maria Madeleine Kiliana Elisabeth

Gabriela Maria Charlotte Felicitas Elisabeth Antonia

Walburga Maria Franziska Helene Elisabeth

Karl Thomas Robert Maria Franziskus Georg Bahnam

Paul Georg Maria Joseph Dominikus

Three of the daughters were given the name "Elisabeth" - maybe in memory of Empress Elisabeth or Princess Elisabeth zu Sachsen-Meiningen, Regina's only sister, who died aged 3 months.

Georg was the name of Regina's father.

And there is the name "Robert" / "Roberta" which could be chosen in memory of Robert Duke of Bourbon-Parma, Empress Zita's father. Gabriela and Monika were called "Antonia", too, which makes me think of Antonia Duchess of Parma, Zita's mother.

[Sir Ralph of Stradbrooke]

What is the origin of "Bahnam"?

[britt.25]

Andrea Maria

Monika Maria Roberta Antonia Raphaela

Michaela Maria Madeleine Kiliana Elisabeth

Gabriela Maria Charlotte Felicitas Elisabeth Antonia

Walburga Maria Franziska Helene Elisabeth

Karl Thomas Robert Maria Franziskus Georg Bahnam

Paul Georg Maria Joseph Dominikus

Three of the daughters were given the name "Elisabeth" - maybe in memory of Empress Elisabeth or Princess Elisabeth zu Sachsen-Meiningen, Regina's only sister, who died aged 3 months.

Georg was the name of Regina's father.

And there is the name "Robert" / "Roberta" which could be chosen in memory of Robert Duke of Bourbon-Parma, Empress Zita's father. Gabriela and Monika were called "Antonia", too, which makes me think of Antonia Duchess of Parma, Zita's mother.

Thanks for having made that research, MarieCharlotte. It´s very interesting to lead back the names to the ansistors. But there are still some names, where I don´t see the connection to the ansistors, but it can also be that I simply don´t have the knowledge of all of them. Names like Kiliana, Madeleine, Raphaela, Dominikus, Bahnam (never heard the last one!) must have other backgrounds, or they are even not in memory of any ansistor. By the way, my second and third name is not at all one of my ansistors, but in many families, especially in earlier times this was/is a custom, I think. Have you any idea, where the other names come from? Thanks for listing the names

[MarieCharlotte]

Thanks for having made that research, MarieCharlotte. It´s very interesting to lead back the names to the ansistors. But there are still some names, where I don´t see the connection to the ansistors, but it can also be that I simply don´t have the knowledge of all of them. Names like Kiliana, Madeleine, Raphaela, Dominikus, Bahnam (never heard the last one!) must have other backgrounds, or they are even not in memory of any ansistor. By the way, my second and third name is not at all one of my ansistors, but in many families, especially in earlier times this was/is a custom, I think. Have you any idea, where the other names come from? Thanks for listing the names

You're welcome. 

While reading all these names again, I thought of Miguel of Braganza's daughters. Except Maria Anna (later Luxemburg), the sisters were all given the names Micaela Rafaela Gabriela. Otto's maternal grandmother was Miguel's daughter Maria Antonia and his his great-grandfather Archduke Carl Ludwig was married to Miguel's daughter Marie Therese. Maybe there is a connection between the names of Otto's daughters and the Braganza sisters.

[Lucien]

I didn't say the daughters of Otto had Hungarian-sounding names, but these grandchildren specifically:


Ferdinand Zvonimir Maria Balthus Keith Michal Otto Antal Bahnam Leonhard, (b.Salzburg 21 Jun 1997)

Zsófia Mária Tatjana Monika Erzsébet Katalin (b.Budapest 12 Jan 2001)

Ildiko Maria Walburga (b.Budapest 6 Jun 2002)

Károly-Konstantin Mihály István Maria (b.Budapest 20 Jul 2004)

Zvonimir is a Croatian name,IIRC,he was baptised in Zagreb.I'm at loss on Bahnam,no clue to whom/were that refers to.

[britt.25]

Thanks for having made that research, MarieCharlotte. It´s very interesting to lead back the names to the ansistors. But there are still some names, where I don´t see the connection to the ansistors, but it can also be that I simply don´t have the knowledge of all of them. Names like Kiliana, Madeleine, Raphaela, Dominikus, Bahnam (never heard the last one!) must have other backgrounds, or they are even not in memory of any ansistor. By the way, my second and third name is not at all one of my ansistors, but in many families, especially in earlier times this was/is a custom, I think. Have you any idea, where the other names come from? Thanks for listing the names

You're welcome. 

While reading all these names again, I thought of Miguel of Braganza's daughters. Except Maria Anna (later Luxemburg), the sisters were all given the names Micaela Rafaela Gabriela. Otto's maternal grandmother was Miguel's daughter Maria Antonia and his his great-grandfather Archduke Carl Ludwig was married to Miguel's daughter Marie Therese. Maybe there is a connection between the names of Otto's daughters and the Braganza sisters.

Again: I didn´t think so far, but it´s really interesting. Maybe there is really a connection of the names of Otto´s daughter to the ones you named. Because in general they are don´t sound very typical for Habsburg names (or I am wrong? At least they weren´t used very often). It´s a interesting theory that they come from the Braganza family! Have you any idea about the name Bahnam? I haven´t heard it so far. Yes, I have, but I only know this name in the arabic world as a girl´s name (sic!), but I don´t think that there is any connection, it has certainly another background!

[Greenowl]

I too have now become curious about the name "Bahnam".

I found the following reference to the name in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"Bahnam Zaya Bulos (b. 1944) was Minister of Transport in the cabinet appointed by the Interim Iraq Governing Council in September 2003. A member of Iraq's Assyrian Christian minority, Bulos is originally from Baghdad, where he worked as a civil engineer".

Thus it appears the name is male, from Iraq but christian.... perhaps Archduke Otto had some association with Iraq's Assyrian Christian minority???

[britt.25]

It´s really strange, I sometimes saw it spelled without "h" in the middle and then it was indeed a girl´s name. I don´t want to make myself ridiculous here, but one of the granddaughters of Saddam Hussein has that name as well! - But as I said without "h" in the middle. But yes, the translation in our letters can be different of course, because of the different writing system in the arabic world.
I think, we come too much off topic here, I guess, but it´s quite strange to find that name as a Habsburg name.

[Greenowl]

Yes, I agree we are beginning to move off the topic. However, please permit me one final remark/question: Am I correct in assuming that these extraordinarily LONG names (i.e. I think Archduke Otto has about 16 names) first came into fashion with Archduke Karl and Archduchess Zita?? It strikes me that the previous generations of Habsburgs had, at most, four names...thus could the penchant for such a salvo of names have been a tradition in Zita's family?

[MarieCharlotte]

A great part of the Emperor's closest family members had about four or five names. But there were exceptions, of course. Just to give some examples: Maria Theresia's first daughter Maria Elisabeth had eight names (Maria Elisabeth Amalia Antonia Josepha Gabriela Johanna Agatha), two daughters of Franz I. had seven names (Marie Louise Leopoldine Franziska Theresia Josepha Lucia and Marie Caroline Leopoldine Franziska Theresia Josepha Medarde) and also Archduke Karl Ludwig's children had more names (Margarethe Sophie Maria Annunziata Theresia Caroline Louise Josepha Johanna).

Instead, the members of the Italian branch of the family loved really long names. Especially Karl Salvator and Leopold Salvator gave their children (too?) many names. Leopold's eldest daughter was Maria de los Dolores Beatrix Carolina Blanca Leopoldina Margaretha Anna Josepha Pia Raphaela Michaela Sixta Stanislava Hieronyma Gregoria Georgia Cäcilia Carmino Barbara (= 20 names !!!).