The names of Boris Johnson’s children. Is the new baby Octavia or Nonus?
The lives of Boris Johnson’s children are of no public interest, unless they themselves decide to make it so, but their names as decided, one hopes between Johnson and his partner of the moment, have some passing note.
Sonia Purnell’s biography of Johnson, Just Boris, reports that he wanted to call one of his children with his ex-wife Marina Wheeler, Lettice. It is as Laeticia a Latin name used in Medieval English, meaning joy, the modern translation of which is either Lettice or perhaps Letitia*. Ms Wheeler’s preference won-out and the baby was named Lara.
Other children with Marina Wheeler were called Milo, Cassia Peaches and Theodore Apollo.
He also had a child with Helen Macintyre in 2009 called Stephanie. This was revealed by Stanley Johnson in 2020.
His first baby with Carrie Symonds is called Wilfred, Old English, which seems like a modest step forward from the Latin. Wilfrid (634-709) was an Anglo-Saxon Saint and Bishop of York. The name fell into disuse but was revived from the nineteenth century on having nowadays perhaps an association with Victoriana.
Carrie’s second baby- a girl saw both Margaret and Allegra swerved and the baby was called Romy Iris Charlotte, its seems relatively restrained by Johnsonian standards.
The eighth child now announced as imminent should following the Latin be called Octavia. However Nonus is a possibility as based on Johnson’s history of lying there is no guarantee that the existence of all the children he has fathered is known in the public domain
*thanks to Peter Lucas for clarification here
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