In the Winx Club, you may or may not have noticed the lack of last names for characters because their title usually replaces it, and of course, many of them have titles. For example, Stella's 'name' is "Stella, Princess of Solaria" and Sky's 'name' is "Sky, Prince/King of Eraklyon."
This article from Answers.com will help you understand how last names work for royalty, at least for the British monarchy, and why it works. The ideas in this article probably provide the foundations for the names of royalty work in the Winx Club's fictional universe.
What is Queen Elizabeth's last name?
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QUEEN ELIZABETH II, England's current monarch's last name is Windsor, though the original family name was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The Royal Family chose to change this German surname to Windsor in 1917 because of intense anti-German sentiment in England during World War I.
At birth, Queen Elizabeth II (born April 21, 1926) was given the names Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, and she is of the royal House of Windsor.
However, her father, King George VI, at his birth in 1895, was, by descent, of the royal House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
On July 17, 1917, Elizabeth's grandfather, King George V, declared by Royal Proclamation that he and his descendants would be of the House of Windsor (not Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), and that members of this family without a title would have the personal surname Windsor.
Thereafter, all royals of his line, and this would include Elizabeth, would be known as being 'of the House of Windsor'. Elizabeth had a title, so she did did not have or need any 'personal surname'.
Royal House names are not the personal 'surnames' of the royal family, because the 'surname' custom of the common people was not and is not necessary for titled monarchs of the ruling dynasty, and never has been.
IF WE TRACED BACK ELIZABETH'S PATERNAL ANCESTRY, WHAT FAMILY SURNAME MIGHT WE FIND?
Elizabeth's paternal grandfathers' ancestry can be traced back to Germanic roots, to Frederick and Dedo I, of Saxony, who came to be of the House of Wettin in the 900's.
They adopted the name Wettin as their family name after they inherited Wettin Castle, near the town of Wettin in Saxony, Germany. 'Family name' ancestry before this time is very difficult to verify, especially as the custom of perpetuating the father's 'surname' as the family's 'surname' was a relatively new practice at that time. Until this period in history people were commonly known by just their first or given names, with 'of (place name)', or 'son of (father's first name), or some other identifier, only being added if it helped to identify the individual person.
[For example the Italian painter Leonardo, son of Piero from the town of Vinci in Italy, had the birth name "Leonardo di Ser Piero." Later the painter was called Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (which means: Leonardo, son of Mister Piero from Vinci). In time Leonardo's 'full' name became shortened to Leonardo da Vinci.]
If Elizabeth's ancestors had followed the custom of retaining the 'personal surname' of one's father and his paternal ancestors as the 'family name', her surname at birth would have been Wettin.
DID ELIZABETH's MARRIAGE TO PRINCE PHILIP GIVE HER A SURNAME?
On November 20, 1947 HRH The Princess Elizabeth, of the House of Windsor (formerly known as the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, whose personal patrilineal ancestral family name would have been Wettin), got married.
She married her third cousin, Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark, of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg/House of Oldenburg. However, before their marriage, Philippos renounced his titles and adopted as his 'surname', not his father's 'surname', but that of his mother's father, Prince Louis of Battenberg (1854-1924).
[In 1917, the Battenberg family changed their name to the more English sounding name Mountbatten, and Louis Alexander Battenberg, Philip's grandfather on his mother's side, became Louis Alexander Mountbatten.]
So, after renouncing his titles, Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark etc. was simply Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, assuming his mother's father's personal surname, Mountbatten, as his own.
If HRH Princesses of the blood royal adopted the current commoners' custom of taking their fiancé's surname, which they don't and she didn't, HRH The Princess Elizabeth would have acquired rights to use Philip's personal surname Mountbatten as her own on her marriage to him in 1947.
However, on April 9, 1952 she clearly confirmed and decreed "that I and My children shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that my descendants who marry and their descendants, shall bear the name of Windsor."
At this point it is worth reminding ourselves that royals entitled to be called HRH Queen, King, Prince or Princess do not need a surname. They are just known by their first name, or by their title(s) and first name. If a 'surname' is required (for marriage legalities, for example), Elizabeth's sons use surnames such as Windsor or Mountbatten-Windsor.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
So what is Queen Elizabeth's last name? Her parents named her "Elizabeth Alexandra Mary". These are her names as shown on her birth certificate. So her last name is Mary.
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SURNAME? ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Queen Elizabeth's surname, if it were to be used, is indeed Windsor. However, there is no surname on the Queen's Marriage certificate for either her or Prince Phillip. He is listed simply as Phillip RN.
The original of King George V's Royal Proclamation, dated 17th July 1917, changing the royal surname to Windsor and creating the House of Windsor, indeed did have a surname within the text as well as the House name of Sax-Coburg. The surname was Guelph - they did not use the German version of the name which was Die Welfin meaning "the Wolf".
Guelph is the oldest dynasty in Europe being some 800 years old and still survives to this day. The Queen's forebears acquired this name through George 1 who was of the House of Hanover and later via Queen Victoria and Edward V11.
It should be noted that, if looking up the Proclamation on the internet, the version that is published on the internet is the version released in December 1958 and it does not have the name Guelph within the text. However, the original version did have the surname . It was Guelph
Answers.com: What is Queen Elizabeth's last name?
To summarize, the issue of last names for British monarchy is a tricky. Queen Elizabeth II does not have a last name in our sense of the concept because her title "Queen" distinguishes her from other people. One of the purposes of a last name is to help distinguish people from others and there are not that many queens in this day and age.
There are some monarchies, past and present, that have real last names though.
Now, in context of the Winx Club, Stella or Sky may not have a last name at all simply because they do not need one to distinguish themselves from the masses of commoners. Their titles are sufficient for that purpose. While there may be millions of girls called Stella on Solaria, there is only one Stella, Princess of Solaria. (Unless the is from a long line of Stellas, in which case, a Roman numeral would be attached to her name.)
However, it should be noted that it is not impossible for a member of royalty to 'adopt' a last name. George VI, Queen Elizabeth II's father, was called "Mr. Johnson" during his time in the navy in World War I. This could have been so that he could himself safe. It would be awfully hard to explain to every how one does not have a last name without mentioning the fact that he was from royalty, no? Especially in the military where the last name is used more than the first name when addressing people (ex. Lieutenant Johnson, Captain Jones, Private Smith).
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