In this era of the carousel of mass migration, family names are more important than ever. When we alter them we lose a little bit of where we came from.
Yet 90 years ago, perhaps Europe's most famous family decided to change its name, backed into a corner by a public increasingly hysterical about the enemy within.
On 18 July 1917 the Times newspaper carried a royal proclamation introducing the name Windsor and dropping "all German titles and dignities".
King George V
King George V was under considerable pressure
Since the marriage of Victoria - the last of the Hanovers - to Prince Albert, Britain's royal family had been "of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha", or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In a time of brutal war with Germany, a more German family name would be hard to find.
