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Popular Royal Names

Guess these names that have been used by multiple European monarchs and popes throughout history.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: September 8, 2022
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First submittedJune 4, 2011
Times taken111,989
Average score40.5%
Rating4.20
5:00
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England
(1066–present)
#
Name
8
Henry
8
Edward
6
George
4
William
3
Richard
3
Charles
2
Elizabeth
2
James
2
Mary
France
(752–1870)
#
Name
18
Louis
10
Charles
6
Philip
4
Henry
3
Napoleon
2
Carloman
2
John
2
Francis
2
Robert
Russia
(1283–1917)
#
Name
6
Ivan
4
Dmitry
4
Vasiliy
3
Feodor
3
Peter
3
Alexander
2
Nicholas
2
Catherine
Popes
(30 AD–present)
#
Name
23
John
16
Benedict
16
Gregory
14
Clement
13
Innocent
13
Leo
12
Pius
9
Stephen
9
Boniface
8
Alexander
8
Urban
Holy Roman Empire
(742–1835)
#
Name
7
Charles
7
Henry
4
Louis
4
Otto
3
Ferdinand
3
Frederick
3
Lothair
68 Comments
+6
Level 33
Jan 5, 2013
Excellent quiz. Really got me thinking.
+7
Level 48
Apr 23, 2014
I didn't get John or James, but I got Dmitry. Good quiz!
+1
Level 19
May 8, 2022
Probably didn't get James because it isn't there...
+6
Level 76
Mar 1, 2023
check again
+3
Level 81
Apr 26, 2014
Lothar and Carloman? ok
+3
Level 38
Jun 16, 2018
Kind of old-fashioned. France had Carloman I (768-771) and Carloman II (879-884).
+13
Level 56
Apr 26, 2014
I typed "Gregorius", but that's not counted as "Gregory"... I'm pretty sure popes themselves would like to be called by their Latin names rather than their English ones.
+2
Level 87
Apr 26, 2014
Why stop in 1792 for France ? There were several kings after that (not counting the two emperors).
+2
Level 36
Apr 26, 2014
I guessed Napoleon and Louis-Napoleon, didn't see the years.
+2
Level ∞
Apr 26, 2014
My mistake. Added those years, which adds Napoleon to the list.
+2
Level 38
Jun 16, 2018
Napoléon I (1804-1815), Louis XVIII (1814-1824), Charles X (1824-1830), Louis-Philippe (1830-1848) and Napoléon III (1852-1870).
+3
Level 28
Apr 26, 2014
How about accepting Dmitri for Dmitry? This is, after all, merely a transliteration of the original Cyrillic.
+2
Level ∞
Apr 26, 2014
Dmitri would have worked
+2
Level 37
Apr 26, 2014
love it
+4
Level 23
Apr 27, 2014
Need more spellings of Frederick...there are many ways
+8
Level 83
Sep 30, 2015
Does anyone else sing the Horrible Histories song when trying to recall English monarchs?
+6
Level 69
Feb 5, 2016
yep! Though I don't remember it well, so it goes something like "william william something something henry richard john, something something something something three more something join our song, something something something the 3rd, something something something something good queen bess something anne something george queen victoria something something"
+6
Level 83
Feb 8, 2016
William, William, Henry, Stephen, Henry, Richard, John; Henry, Ed, Ed, Ed, Rich 2 then three more Henrys join our song. Edward, Edward, Richard Third, Henry, Henry, Ed again; Mary 1, Good Queen Bess, Jimmy, Charles and Charles and then Jim, Will, Mary, Anne of Gloria; George, George, George, George, Will, Victoria; Edward, George, Edward, George 6, then Queen Liz 2 completes the list.
+7
Level 33
Sep 25, 2016
Don't know if this is the one you mean:

Willy, Willy, Harry, Ste,

Harry, Dick, John, Harry 3

1 and 2 Neds, Richard 2,

Harries 4, 5, 6, then who?

Edward 3, 4, Dick the Bad,

Henries twain and Ned the Lad

Mary, Bess and James the Vain

Charlie, Charlie, James again.

Will and Mary, Anna Gloria,

Georges four, Will and Victoria.

Eddie, Georgie, George not Ed,

Liz the Second's now our head.

(from Glanville Williams' *Learning the Law*, but I don't remember the two lines he completed this Victorian aide mémoire with, so I've improvised.)

+2
Level 83
Jun 25, 2017
^ Nope, that's a different one.
+1
Level 48
Mar 31, 2024
of course
+6
Level 63
Jan 15, 2016
13 innocent popes
+26
Level 81
Jul 16, 2016
The other 253 were all guilty of something.
+6
Level 51
Mar 28, 2016
You should add some additional spellings for Catherine
+2
Level 76
Sep 25, 2016
Aargh!! I thought of William with 2 seconds left and typed so fast to beat the timer that I ended up with Willima. So close!!
+1
Level 51
Sep 25, 2016
great quiz
+1
Level 65
Sep 25, 2016
I tried Katherine...
+2
Level 69
Aug 20, 2017
Me too. Was thinking in Russian
+4
Level 38
Jun 16, 2018
But in Russian it's Ekaterina :-)
+2
Level 57
Mar 19, 2017
France

who is Carloman ?

do you mean Charlemagne ?

+4
Level 38
Jun 16, 2018
Carloman I was Charlemagne's brother, they reigned together between 768 and 771 then Carloman died. Carloman II reigned between 879 and 884.
+1
Level 69
Aug 20, 2017
Really enjoyed this quiz!
+6
Level 65
Dec 20, 2017
Can you accept french names as Jean, François, Henri?
+4
Level 57
Jan 7, 2018
Why doesn't Friedrich count for the Holy Roman Empire?
+1
Level 48
Jan 15, 2021
cos english translation

(i hate it too, but then the russians and the other germans would have to be respelled too)

+2
Level 62
Mar 31, 2018
Can you accept Vasili?
+2
Level 36
Oct 20, 2018
No John-Paul (I & II)?
+1
Level 80
Dec 9, 2019
Why should it be on this quiz, when there has only been two popes with this name?
+2
Level 36
Apr 26, 2020
And just how many vasiliy's were there?
+2
Level 80
Feb 6, 2023
Four Russian tsars (but no popes had that name)
+1
Level 72
Jun 17, 2019
man I totally forgot about female names ( somehow I thought this quiz was specifically about male names..)

And hadnt heard of carloman, when I saw it for a millisecond I thought, do they mean charlemagne? but it is not the same.

also have to admit I had never heard of vasiliy and urban either ow wait urban must be urbanus...! I guess then I only have never heard of vasiliy ( unless it is something completely different in my native tongue, but I doubt it)

+2
Level 70
Oct 4, 2019
Not sure why, but there are quite a few popes names that were left off the list, several were used at least 5 times: Paul, Adrian, Sixtus, Callixtus, Nicholas, Eugene, Felix, Martin, to name a few. Elizabeth was used only twice, and only in England, so based on that, the above names should have appeared.
+4
Level 53
Feb 27, 2021
The quiz is about the most popular royal names in each category.
+2
Level 61
Dec 9, 2019
Um... I got 5 points for 29/37. Is that possible
+3
Level 76
Mar 1, 2023
Yes, if you did at least as well as 95% of other quiz takers.
+4
Level 37
Mar 11, 2020
James

Charles

+2
Level 44
May 9, 2020
Ivan corresponds to John, right?
+2
Level 45
May 9, 2020
Yeah, it’s the Russian and Eastern Slavic equivalent. I think only Poland is different, there they use Jan way more often :)
+2
Level 77
May 9, 2020
Why does HRE say 742-1835? It was dissolved in 1806.
+5
Level 24
May 9, 2020
Basil for Vasiliy?
+4
Level 81
May 9, 2020
It's a bit inconsistent that you accept "Catherine" for Yekaterina, "Alexander" for Aleksandr, "Nicholas" for Nikolai etc, but not "John" for Ivan... though I know this inconsistency come from English convention and isn't unique to the quiz. Still.. it's weird.

Same with the Latin kings. John should technically be Ioannes. Or Giovanni. Or Jan. But it shows up here simply as John. And King John of France was really Jean.

+3
Level 44
May 9, 2020
Yup, it also seems to be the same in French. We use Catherine, Alexandre, Nicolas, Pierre, etc, but Ivan doesn't become Jean. While translating monarch names had been the rule for centuries, it doesn't seem to be the case anymore. For instance, Elizabeth II is called Élisabeth II but William is not called Guillaume. Some authors still insist to translate names, which only adds more inconsistency. Apart from the pope and countries that speak French (Monaco, Belgium and Luxembourg), keeping untranslated names is becoming the norm.
+1
Level 31
May 9, 2020
got clement and ferdinad , but missed francis and benedict somehow
+2
Level 79
May 9, 2020
Vasili, Vasily, or Basil for Vasiliy. Vasily I and Vasily II both show up with Vasily as the spelling and Vasili III shows up as Vasili III or Basil III. Vasili IV shows up as Vasili IV or Basil IV. None of them show up with Vasiliy has a spelling.
+1
Level 56
May 10, 2020
Good quiz, thanks!

What about the present pope Francis?

+4
Level 21
May 11, 2020
There are only two napoleons, and 17 louis' in france, napoleon two and louis 17 never ruled over anything
+1
Level 65
Sep 29, 2020
Napoleon is not a Royal name.
+7
Level 76
Sep 30, 2020
Why not? He was proclaimed emperor of France. How else do you think monarchies come to be?
+1
Level 67
Mar 4, 2021
First try - 25
+1
Level 33
Jun 25, 2021
Fix France and Holy Roman Empire, when they show up as titles, the dates are numbers I can call..
+1
Level 70
Aug 23, 2021
Did better than I expected, 18
+3
Level 66
Mar 1, 2023
Why are some names translated into English, while others are not? For instance, French monarchs list John in place of Jean, while Russian monarchs list Ivan (and writing "John" does not work). This should be made more uniform
+4
Level 68
Mar 1, 2023
These needs a lot more type-ins. Things need to to be accepted in their native language since this is actually what the rulers were called. “Jean” should count for “John” for France.
+4
Level 61
Mar 1, 2023
Is it at all fair that these names are all in English? 'seems odd.
+1
Level 69
Mar 5, 2023
Interesting quiz !

You should accept tpes-ins for names in native languages, there is none for France monarchs.

There is 2 small mistakes for France, Napoleon II never reigned and there were two distinct Charles III who ruled over France.

+1
Level 87
Jul 2, 2023
The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806, despite Francis II not dying until 1835. If we want to do the date of death for the last monarch then France needs to be 1873 and Russia needs to be 1918.
+1
Level 61
Sep 30, 2023
Bob should be accepted for Robert.
+1
Level 65
Nov 27, 2024
got otto, stephen...forgot napoleon.