#and now I legit feel like tearing up a bit dfgdfgk

[archduchessofnowhere]

Were they just honoring the exact same family members when they named Reichstadt and FJ or...Sophie gurl please.

JGJGHJSJK you know this idea actually crossed my mind, but basically yes, it just happened that the Habsburg's name pool was as big as their gene pool. But this actually is an interesting question, so let's take a super brief look at Habsburg naming!

As frustrating as it may be for us that everyone on this dynasty had the same three names, there was a logic behind it. Historian Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger in her fantastic biography of Empress Maria Theresia puts it best:

In the House of Habsburg, Christian names were always chosen from the same limited reservoir of saints, in ever varying order. The aim was not to stamp children as one-of-a-kind individuals but to mark dynastic identity and continuity.

While Stollber-Rilinger is specifically talking about the mid 18th century, some decades before the world turned upside down and many things changed forever, this naming convention kept being truth for the Habsburgs until the end of the dynasty. For example Franz Josef's son Rudolf was named after Rudolf I (1218-1291), the first king of the Romans from the House of Habsburg. The intention of marking Rudolf 's "dynastic identity and continuity" was clear. On top of that, it was also very usual to name a child after their godparent(s), who were often family members. It's not surprising, then, that most male members of the House of Habsburg in the 19th century were called a combination of Franz, Ferdinand, Karl, Josef, Ludwig, Otto or Leopold.

With that overview on Habsburg naming done, let's move on to the two cousins in question: Napoleon "Franz", Duke of Reichstadt and Franz Josef I.

From left to right: Archduke Franz Josef, future Emperor of Austria; Napoleon II, Duke of Reichstadt; Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, future Duchess of Aumale.

As I said before, I don't know that much about Reichstadt other than the very basics, so I apologize beforehand if there is something wrong here, since I'm not in the loop of which are the best sources about him. In the same way, if there were any particular naming conventions in the House of Bonaparte, I'm not aware of them. That being said, let's look at the King of Rome's names!

Reichstadt's full name was Napoleon François Charles Joseph. Napoleon obviously after his father, a no brainer in my opinion: Little Napoleon's birth was basically a statement that the Bonaparte empire was here to stay. Then we have "François" whose German version would become in the name he would go by during his lifetime. This was after his godfather, his maternal grandfather Emperor Franz. "Charles" was in turn after his paternal grandfather Charles Bonaparte. Finally "Joseph" came from his second godfather, his uncle Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain.

I find this naming very interesting, because Napoleon was creating a dynastic identity, rather than continuing it. And by throwing Emperor Franz's name in the mix, he joined the identity of his new dynasty with the Habsburgs.

Now let's look at FJ's name!

Sophie and Archduke Franz Karl's firstborn was named Franz Josef Karl. Were did these names came from was surprisingly harder to check than Reichstadt's names, because all the biographies in English that I checked on the Archive just straight up skip his baptism? I had to look for information about it in András Gerő's Hungarian biography of FJ using a machine translator. As I suspected, Emperor Franz was also the godfather of this grandson. In fact, old Franz full name was "Franz Josef Karl" so my guess is that all of FJ's names are after him.

At the time of his birth Franz Josef was several people behind the throne of Austria, yet given that there wasn't much hope in Crown Prince Ferdinand producing an heir, that he might one day succeed was not out of the realm of possibility; perhaps naming him exactly like his imperial grandfather was intentional. In any case, it followed the conventional naming rules of the House of Habsburg. By the way, the future Emperor of Austria was always just called "Franz" or "Franzi" amongst his family, he chose to ascend to the throne by the name of "Franz Josef" because he also wanted to be associated with Emperor Joseph II. Yet another example of Habsburg names marking "dynastic identity and continuity".

Now to finish the ask let's address the elephant in the room, the reason why are we looking at the names of these two cousins in particular instead of literally anyone else. Could Reichstadt had been, in fact, FJ's father?

Rumors about Reichstadt and Sophie being too friendly had in fact been going on even before Franz Josef was born. However, I think pretty much no one believes that him being the future emperor's father is possible. Let's look at what one of Reichstadt's biographers, Octave Aubry, has to say about this:

It has been asserted that Reichstadt was the father of Franz-Josef. The contention does not stand investigation. The friendship between the two lovers did not begin until after the birth of Sophie’s first child. As for her second, Maximilian, who was to be born in July, 1832, and to die in Mexico, such a filiation is not at all impossible. But in that direction everything is conjecture. If the two lovers themselves knew, they kept their secret. They loved each other: that is the only thing certain.

I've only read some fragments of this biography very superficially, but just by this you can tell that Aubry not only believes that an affair indeed happened, but also that he totally ships Reichstadt and Sophie lol. So if even him, who I believe is one of the main biographers to held the belief that they were more than close friends, doesn't buy into the rumors, then truly there isn't any evidence to back this up. About what I think about Max potentially being Reichstadt's son I already answer it in another ask.

Finally, I wanted to note that Reichstadt was very fond of his little cousin Franz Josef. He would often play with with him, and took him in his walks with Sophie. I found in Aubry's biography this very touching moment between them from when Reichstadt was already on the verge of death:

He asked to have little Franz-Josef brought to his room, for the lad’s charming ways delighted him. He stroked his hair repeatedly, and showed him little objects that he thought would amuse him and then finally held him in a tight embrace for a moment, dreaming. The child looked up at him, earnest, bored perhaps. His nurse came for him and his big cousin released him with a sigh.

I like to believe that Reichstadt was happy to share names with the cousin he loved so much.