The origins and the name of Luxembourg are intimately linked with one person, and with one place.

In the year 963, a Count by the name of Siegfried, a Carolingian by blood - and on his mother's side he was descended from Charlemagne, acquired from the St. Maximin Abbey in Trier a rocky promontory overhanging the valley of the River Alzette. According to the deed recording the transaction, a small stronghold called "Lucilinburhuc" was situated there at that time. It was probably of Roman origin. It was there that the name of Luxembourg first appeared in history. The name would pass to the city which took shape all about, and then be handed on to the country which developed around that city. Nowadays, the city and the country carry the same name.

According to legend, Count Siegfried would be married to Melusina, a mermaid who became a part of European folklore and who was to disappear beneath the waves of the Alzette. Be that legend or not, Siegfried was present at the very birth of the House of Luxembourg, a dynasty which, during the 14th. Century and the first half of the 15th. Century, was to provide four Emperors to the Empire and four Kings to Bohemia.