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divine, as in Oswald, Oswiu, Osric, Osred, and Oslaf. _Wine_, friend, is
a favourite termination found in Æscwine, Eadwine, Æthelwine, Oswine,
and Ælfwine, whose meanings need no further explanation. _Wulf_ appears
as the first half in Wulfstan, Wulfric, Wulfred, and Wulfhere; while it
forms the second half in Æthelwulf, Eadwulf, Ealdwulf, and Cenwulf.
_Beorht_, _berht_, or _briht_, bright, or glorious, appears in
Beorhtric, Beorhtwulf, Brihtwald; Æthelberht, Ealdbriht, and Eadbyrht.
_Burh_, a fortress, enters into many female names, as Eadburh,
Æthelburh, Sexburh, and Wihtburh. As a rule, a certain number of
syllables seem to have been regarded as proper elements for forming
personal names, and to have been combined somewhat fancifully, without
much regard to the resulting meaning. The following short list of such
elements, in addition to the roots given above, will suffice to explain
most of the names mentioned in this work.
_Helm_: helmet.
_Gar_: spear.
_Gifu_: gift.
_Here_: army.
_Sige_: victory.
_Cyne_: royal.
_Leof_: dear.
_Wig_: war.
_Stan_: stone.
_Eald_: old, venerable.
_Weard_, _ward_: ward, protection.
_Red_: counsel.
_Eeg_: edge, sword.
_Theod_: people, nation.
By combining these elements with those already given most of the royal
or noble names in use in early England were obtained.
With the people, however, it would seem that shorter and older forms
were still in vogue. The following document, the original of which is
printed in Kemble's collection, represents the pedigree of a serf, and
is interesting, both as showing the sort of names in use among the
servile class, and the care with which their family relationships were
recorded, in order to preserve the rights of their lord.
Dudda was a boor at Hatfield, and he had three daughters:
one hight Deorwyn, the other Deorswith, the third Golde. And
Wulflaf at Hatfield has Deorwyn to wife. Ælfstan, at
Tatchingworth, has Deorswith to wife: and Ealhstan,
Ælfstan's brother, has Golde to wife. There was a man hight
Hwita, bee-master at Hatfield, and he had a daughter Tate,
mother of Wulfsige, the bowman; and Wulfsige's sister Lulle
has Hehstan to wife, at Walden. Wifus and Dunne and Seoloce
are inborn at Hatfield. Duding, son of Wifus, lives at
Walden; and Ceolmund, Dunne's son, also sits at Walden; and
Æthelheah, Seoloce's son, also sits at Walden. And Tate,
Cenwold's sister, Mæg has to wife at Welgun; and Eadhelm,
Herethryth's son, has Tate's daughter to wife. Wærlaf,
Wærstan's father, was a right serf at Hatfield; he kept the
grey swine there.
In the west, and especially in Cornwall, the names of the serfs were
mainly Celtic, Griffith, Modred, Riol, and so forth, as may be seen
from the list of manumissions preserved in a mass-book at St. Petroc's,
or Padstow. Elsewhere, however, the Celtic names seem to have dropped
out, for the most part, with the Celtic language. It is true, we meet
with cases of apparently Welsh forms, like Maccus, or Rum, even in
purely Teutonic districts; and some names, such as Cerdic and Ceadwalla,
seem to have been borrowed by one race from the other: while such forms
as Wealtheow and Waltheof are at least suggestive of British descent:
but on the whole, the conquered Britons appear everywhere to have
quickly adopted the names in vogue among their conquerors. Such names
would doubtless be considered fashionable, as was the case at a later
date with those introduced by the Danes and the Normans. Even in
Cornwall a good many English forms occur among the serfs: while in very
Celtic Devonshire, English names were probably universal.
The Danish Conquest introduced a number of Scandinavian names,
especially in the North, the consideration of which belongs rather to a
companion volume. They must be briefly noted here, however, to prevent
confusion with the genuine English forms. Amongst such Scandinavian
introductions, the commonest are perhaps Harold, Swegen or Swend, Ulf,
Gorm or Guthrum, Orm, Yric or Eric, Cnut, and Ulfcytel. During and after
the time of the Danish dynasty, these forms, rendered fashionable by
royal usage, became very general even among the native English. Thus
Earl Godwine's sons bore Scandinavian names; and at an earlier period we
even find persons, apparently Scandinavian, fighting on the English side
against the Danes in East Anglia.
But the sequel to the Norman Conquest shows us most clearly how the
whole nomenclature of a nation may be entirely altered without any large
change of race. Immediately after the Conquest the native English names
begin to disappear, and in their place we get a crop of Williams,
Walters, Rogers, Henries, Ralphs, Richards, Gilberts, and Roberts. Most
of these were originally High German forms, taken into Gaul by the
Franks, borrowed from them by the Normans, and then copied by the
English from their foreign lords. A few, however, such as Arthur, Owen,
and Alan, were Breton Welsh. Side by side with these French names, the
Normans introduced the Scriptural forms, John, Matthew, Thomas, Simon,
Stephen, Piers or Peter, and James; for though a few cases of Scriptural
names occur in the earlier history for example, St. John of Beverley
and Daniel, bishop of the West Saxons these are always borne by
ecclesiastics, probably as names of religion. All through the middle
ages, and down to very recent times, the vast majority of English men
and women continued to bear these baptismal names of Norman
introduction. Only two native English forms practically survived Edward
and Edmund owing to mere accidents of royal favour. They were the names
of two great English saints, Eadward the Confessor and Eadmund of East
Anglia; and Henry III. bestowed them upon his two sons, Edward I. and
Edmund of Lancaster. In this manner they became adopted into the royal
and fashionable circle, and so were perpetuated to our own day. All the
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