Prince William and his fiancée Kate Middleton announced the names of their bridesmaids, maid of honour and best man a couple of days ago.
Several little girls were described as bridesmaids, while Kate's sister is to be her maid of honour, which is the equivalent of chief bridesmaid. The OED says that 'maid of honour' in this sense was originally a North American term. In Britain a maid of honour was originally a well-to-do woman who attended a queen or princess.
I recall hearing the term 'matron of honour' in my youth. This referred to a married bridesmaid. The OED tells me that this, too, was originally an American term.
Prince William is going for a 'best man' rather than the more traditional royal 'supporter'. Best man was originally a Scottish term (as one of the OED citations, from 1823, makes clear: "The two bridegrooms entered, accompanied each by his friend, or best man, as this person is called in Scotland"). Indeed, the term 'best maid', for bridesmaid, existed in Scotland, too.
These days things can get very complicated, linguistically speaking, as there is no reason why a bride should not ask her brother or a male friend to be her 'bridesmaid', or why a groom should not ask his sister or a female friend to be his 'best man'. The change in social customs has not been matched by a corresponding linguistic change, and you will find several different modern names for these new functions. Some brides will call their attendant a 'bridesman'. This is actually an old word, although originally it referred to the attendant of the bridegroom, so was the equivalent of best man. Some grooms will call their female attendants a 'groomsmaid', while others will say 'best woman'.
In the 15th and 16th centuries a bride could refer to a man or a woman (like today's 'spouse'). In the 17th century a groom was a young lad who looked after horses; before that it was any male servant. Groom only began to be used to mean 'bridegroom' in the 17th century. There's more on this in a post I wrote on the changing meaning of the word 'groom'.
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