Tower of London raven names: Which do you like best?

raven

Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee celebration is now underway.

This news reminds me of a funny little fact: Did you know that a group of ravens lives in the Tower of London?

Local superstition has it that “if the ravens leave, the Tower would fall and the Kingdom would fall,” so at least six captive ravens are kept in the Tower at all times.

And all the ravens — at least in the modern era — have had names.

According to various sources (like this BBC article from ’05) past birds have been called Baldrick, Bran, Branwen, Cedric, Charlie, Edgar Sopper, George, Grip, Grog, Gundulf, Gwyllum, Hardey, Jim Crow, Mabel, Marley, Odin, Rhys and Thor.

The current group consists of:

  • Erin (female)
  • Hugine (female)
  • Merlina (female)
  • Munin (female)
  • Pearl (female)
  • Porsha (female)
  • Rocky (male)

Which raven name do you like best?

And a very challenging follow-up question: If you had a set of six ravens living in your backyard — and their constant presence didn’t freak you out so much that you felt compelled to call animal control — what would you name them?

Source: The Ravens – Historic Royal Places

Image by John Cobb from Unsplash

5 thoughts on “Tower of London raven names: Which do you like best?

  1. Two new ravens, Gripp and Jubilee, both born in 2012, are now part of the group.

    And here are a few more interesting facts, from the Tower of London website:

    “Despite their having one wing trimmed, some ravens do in fact go absent without leave and others have had to be sacked. Raven George was dismissed for eating television aerials, and Raven Grog was last seen outside an East End pub.”

    “Hugine and Erin are sisters.”

    “Raven Munin recently escaped from the Tower of London and was found 5 days later in Greenwich! She was caught by a vigilant member of the public in his garden and returned to the care of the Ravenmaster, after a well-deserved holiday!”

  2. I sure would! I love to name everything! LOL! The kids think it is silly, but I think it is fun.

    Hmmm…..I would name them Minerva, Miranda, Scuttle, BoobyTrap, Cinders, and dog breath.

    Because….why not?? LOL!

    Thanks for the informative and fun post!
    Natalie

  3. Two of the current ravens, Huginn (Old Norse for “thought”) and Muninn (Old Norse, “memory”), recently welcomed four chicks. These are the first chicks to be hatched at the Tower of London since 1989. The eggs started hatching on April 23, St. George’s Day, so the one of the four that remains at the Tower will be named either George or Georgina. (Source)

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