Is it right that the ´Battenbergs` from Germany are the ancestors of the `Mountbattens`?

Answer 1

After three long years of World War I, anti-German feeling had approached fever pitch

Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said pressure from politicians had forced the king's hand.

It got to a certain point in World War I where even if you had a dachshund you were regarded as German. Pressure was applied to the king. The consensus started to be spread that the king was pro-German

So in 1917 the royal family saw their name change overnight, princes lost their titles and became lords, the Battenbergs opted for literal translation and became Mountbatten

Answer 2

Yup. The element "berg" in German refers to "mount" or "moutain." During the World Wars, the Battenbergs changed their name to Mountbatten (essentially the same name just Anglicized) to distance themselves from their German relatives.

An interesting trivia: the element "spiel" in German means to play. A famous American filmmaker by the name of Spielberg made his first films (the really early ones using his dad's camcorder) with the label "Playmount Productions" (a simultaneous reference to his name and a reference to the film company Paramount).

Answer 3

The Mountbattens still retained their German family name of Battenberg right up-to c1914, the outbreak of WW-One. From then onwards they changed their name to Mountbatten. The Royal Family also changed their name from something like SaxaSalteningen [whatever] to Windsor.

The Royal family, who are looked down upon by the English aristocracy due to their lack of English pedigree, have been desperate to make themselves as English/British as possible. Hence we have George 6th while still Duke of York marriage to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyons [Scottish royalty] and later the present Prince of Wales marriage to Diana the daughter of an English Earl - [Earl of Althorpe?]

We also have the case of the late HRH The Princess Margaret marriage to Tony Armstrong-Jones [Welsh]. Thus, the RF over the last few decades has managed to acquire a lot of British blood. They now see themselves as British.

I'm not daft and know a Kraut when I see one.

Answer 4

Yes, if I remember correctly, the Mountbattens are the same as the Battenburgs. They changed thier family name about the same time the Saxe-coburgs became the Windsors in the early stages of the First World War in an attempt to sound more "English".

Answer 5

The name is Battenberg, which means Mount Batten. The name was changed during the 1st World War.

Answer 6

The same. There was a slight change to Anglocize the surname.

Battenberg was changed to Mountbatten during WWI to make it more accetable to the English speaking people.

Answer 7

Yes, it was a straight transliteration
Mount <=> Berg.
A "de-Germanisation" undertaken during WW1
The British royal family adopted "Windsor" for similar reasons
Having a family name of Saxe-Coburg Gotha was somewhat awkward, when Gotha bombers were raiding London.

It wasn't just family names.
German Shepherds became "Alsatians"
Some German sounding towns also anglicized their names in the USA and Australia (URL)

And sauerkraut became liberty cabbage in the USA!

Answer 8

I asked a similar question in the Ancestry/ Royalty area recently and was straightened out toute suite. Basically Queen Victoria's "real" name was Victoria Hanover. She married another German named Albert Saxe Coburg. Being a queen, she kept her maiden name just like a movie actress keeps her stage name. But their son's name was Edward Saxe Coburg. When WWI came along, his son George changed his last name to Windsor and that's continued down to Elizabeth Windsor. She married a Greek named Philip Bittenberg but his family had changed that last name to Mountbatten to sound more English. A few years after she married him, she hyphenated her name to Windsor-Mountbatten. So it will be up to her son or grandson someday to decide to keep that lengthy moniker or return to something simpler.

Answer 9

Yes. Mount means Berg in German. The British Monarchy is primarily German. (SHHHHHHH...)

Answer 10

Yes, that it is.
Greetings from Hamburg, Germany
Heinz