Royal

Derived from the Old French roial, tracing back to the Latin regalis, meaning of a king. It entered American use in the nineteenth century as both an honorific given name and an occasional transfer from an English surname. After more than a century of quiet, sporadic registration, it surged in the twenty-first century alongside a broader appetite for majestic vocabulary.

A century ago, the name belonged to dry-goods merchants and eccentric New England uncles. Today, roughly seven out of ten living Royals belong to Generation Alpha. It shares playground space with modern honorifics like Reign, Saint, and Major. The moniker suggests velvet mantles and crests, but the typical bearer is currently mastering the monkey bars.