How and when are wars given names?

Question

Wars such as the War of Roses. Was it always named that or when do wars normally get a common name?

In: 3

Answer 1

As far as The Wars of the Roses was concerned, that name was not contemporary; it was the Civil Wars. When Henry VII took the throne in 1485 he married the daughter of Edward IV, uniting the houses of Lancaster and York, which used a red rose and a white rose as their emblem respectively. But the phrase Wars of The Roses really only came into popular use in the 19th century.