Hello! I would love to hear your take on a theory I’ve heard, maybe you’ve already done something about it but —
The theory that the phantomhives are actually of Irish/Scottish/Celtic decent and that’s part of the reason Victoria (supposedly) wiped them out. Also kind of explains the “Windsor incident” and the “sour faces” of relatives at the mention of the twins names (I realize Ciel is French—I believe? But still!)
I just wanna sing ancient Celtic tunes to OCiel 😭 hits home for me because my lineage is extremely Irish and German, and I know how horribly they treated anyone Irish or Scottish at that time, even in America. So sad to think this might be the case, albeit with a supernatural twist
There has been discussion of that possibility within the fandom, and I've had a few posts and reblogs that talk about it.
For one thing, some in the fandom think our earl (who only pretends to be Ciel) might have named Finny after himself. A specific book has been shown on two separate occasions in the manga: Fenian Cycle: Celtic Mythology.
In ch100, it's shown several times, as our earl explains to Finny why he's chosen that name for him.
And it's shown again on the cover of ch132.
Now, our earl selects the name for Finny because of his blond hair and his strength. And years later, when our earl joins the circus, he calls himself Finnian. Some people think this is a clue that it's his real given name, and perhaps he has never liked it because it doesn't fit: he doesn't have blond hair, and he's not all that physically fast, strong, or healthy. Canonically, Rachel is the one to name the boys, and I personally cannot see her choosing a name like that for our earl. He didn't show signs of asthma until he was 5 or so, but he obviously doesn't have blond hair, and I expect Rachel to choose a more fitting name for him. Preferably one that works well with "Ciel" (like Claus and Lucas, mirror twin brothers in Mother3, having anagram names). That's one of the reasons why I like the name Elic. (I also like that it means "protection", much like Alex.) However, the idea that our earl is really Finnian (or some spelling variant) persists within the fandom.
I think it's more likely that our earl just fondly remembers Vincent reading the book to him, but it's interesting that the book is shown again on a cover page, with Vincent reading to the boys, and the tag line is "Gazing at the promised future". The chapter includes Vincent showing the boys around the estate and their earldom, but that cover also happens to show the boys "gazing" at the book. This could be a hint that the family is indeed of Celtic origins, or at least partly, despite the fact the image looks more like "gazing at the fabled past".
Then Yana-san revealed the cover art for Artworks 3, and wow. That's a lot of tartans and thistles. She mixes so many different tartan patterns that we cannot really say the family must be from one particular clan or another. But it's really interesting for her to choose all these tartans and pair them with a bunch of thistle, Scotland's national flower. There are even thistles on his boots.
Here and here are a couple old posts about it, including the symbolic meaning of thistles (includes some Japanese flower language meanings, too). Notice thistles are often associated with "protection". (Makes me like the name Elic even more.)
If the twins have some Celtic roots, it might not actually be on the Phantomhive side so much as Rachel's side. Her sister and father have that red hair, after all, and so-called "Gingers" have suffered discrimination for a very long time, particularly in England. Vincent might have wanted to teach his boys to appreciate and take pride in their partly Celtic heritage.
If Rachel has a strong Celtic background, then Vincent's choice to marry her might have ruffled some feathers. Perhaps family and people in the peerage didn't think it was a good idea; maybe this made Queen Victoria angry. Keeping all this in mind (and making a point of it), the decidedly strong-willed Rachel might have selected names that reflect each side of the family. Something French for the firstborn... and something Celtic for the unexpected twin? (Idk exactly where Elic comes from, but it looks/sounds Celtic, doesn't it? Oh, hey. Look. CELTIC. 😆)
Every time I look up "Elic name meaning" online, I get different results for both the meaning and origin, but when I looked a moment ago, this was from one of the top websites (Names.com):
Another website says it's Greek in origin and means "defender of mankind", a variation of Alec. Older website entries used to give a similar meaning (protection/protector of man) but claim it's Hungarian or something. So, nothing conclusive, of course, but gosh I hope our earl ends up being Elic. I really do. It's one of the major Mother3 predictions, so of course I'm fond of it. 😅
Speaking of lineage, mine is English, German, Irish, Scottish, French, and Dutch. My first name, Arran, is after the Isle of Arran (Scottish). My last name, Walker, is supposedly from the MacGregor clan, while my Allison ancestors (married into the Walkers about six generations ago) came from the MacAlister clan, straight from Somerled himself! Then again, being a descendent of Somerled is somewhat common. Roughly 500,000 people today are. Only Genghis Khan is documented as having more -- about 16 million. Big oof 😅.
Another person to mix with the Phantomhives could prove to be of Celtic decent.
