Photo:James Brooks via Flickr
Looking for a throwback baby name? Let’s push back the cool 1990s or 80s names. Let’s go way way back to the medieval times. The Dictionary of Medieval Names contains over 1,000 majestic names recorded from year 500 to 1600 for your picking. Here are some of our favorite names from A to Z:
- Artcar: Old Breton arth ‘bear’ + Old Breton car ‘friend, kinsman’.
- Brunger: Old English brun ‘brown’, + Old English gar ‘spear’.
- Cleopas: Ancient Greek ‘(good) report; flame, glory’ + Ancient Greek ‘father’.
- Donata: Latin donata ‘given’
- Everbern: Old High German ebur ‘boar’ + Old High German, Old Saxon bero‘bear’.
- Frodeberga: Old High German fruot ‘wise’ + Old High German berg ‘mountain, hill’.
- Gilia: Proto-Germanic gailaz ‘merry, excited; beautiful; lush, lustful’.
- Hippolyta: The name of an Amazonian queen appearing in the Greek myths of Heracles and Theseus.
- Illuminata: Latin illuminata ‘filled with light’.
- Justus: Latin ‘just, fair’.
- Ketill: Old Icelandic ketill ‘kettle, cauldron’.
- Lovewell: Old English lufu ‘love, affection, desire’
- Mandisma: Old High German mendi ‘joy’
- Nadalfrid: Latin natalis ‘natal, of birth’ + Old High German fridu, Old Saxonfrithu ‘peace’.
- Onofrio: Egyptian Wnn-nfr ‘he who is always happy’
- Quintius: A derivative of Latin quintus ‘fifth’
- Rubeus: Latin rubeus ‘red’.
- Sixt: Greek ‘polished’.
- Thanburg: Old Saxon thanc, thank ‘thought’ + Old High German burg ‘castle, city, stronghold’.
- Valens: Latin valens ‘strong, vigorous, healthy, powerful’.
- Wulfger: Old English, Gothic wulf ‘wolf’ + Old Saxon ger ‘spear’.
- Ysoria: Uncertain, but perhaps related to Latin Isaura, an ethic byname derived from the region of Isauria in Asia Minor.
- Zwentibold: Proto-Indo-European *ḱweytos ‘bright, shine’ + Polish pułk ‘regiment’
Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!
H/T: The Chive
