genuinely old English girls names?

[utopian99]

Looking for true old English not just 'vintagey' sounding. We have loads of good boys options but really struggle with girls. Our ds has a name we decided years before he was conceived which then turned out to be in the top ten that year which will irk me forever, so less common is better...

[mistyegg]

There's a long list to look through here

[DonkeysDontRideBicycles]

Matilda was the first one to occur to me but I think it's German in origin.

How about
Agatha
Agnes
Dulcie
Emma
Edwina
Faye
Janet
Joan
Laetitia
Marian
Philippa

[meditrina]

How old do you want to go?

Here's a lovely thread about Anglo Saxon names and there's a recent thread about Biblical ones (which would be even older), or you could try Ancient Greek or Roman names, or ones from ancient Egyptian myths and engravings.

[Megrim]

Eleanor
Elizabeth
Katherine / Catharine
Isobel(la)
Jane
Anne
Matilda
Margaret
Emma
Edith
Philippa
Joan
Henrietta
Mary
Ethelreda
Maud
Sybilla
Euphemia
Annabella
Madeleine
Judith

[Selks]

Beatrice

[badtime]

Have a look through this:
www.s-gabriel.org/names/english.shtml

It has lists from various records of names from specific time periods.

[Salazar]

Felicity
Verity
Cecily

Were the ones that came to mind... No logic though. Know nothing about the origins, they just feel English to me.

[Clawdy]

Fritha is a beautiful Anglo-Saxon name.

[MyrtleDove]

Maud(e) is the English version of Matilda, very old.

Also Alice (very popular with medieval women), Joan, Christina, Emma, Eleanor, Margaret, Margery, Agnes, Agatha, Catherine, Elizabeth, Bridget, Edith - all popular medieval women's names, though not all of strictly English origin.

[MyrtleDove]

Oh and Ethel and Hilda.

[florascotia]

Agree with Myrtle above. Woud add Isabel/ Isabella and variations of Mary such as Mariota plus perhaps Joan (and variations).

Verity, Cecily, Felicity etc hardly ever used in England in Middle Ages.

[utopian99]

Hmm. Read the Anglo saxon name thread and there aresome properly old, but possibly too old, nanenames there...

I like cecily, although not old English, but it means 'blind' I think. Also love Beatrice (mostly from reading Much Ado,) but dh has vetoed. Argh.. am rubbish at girls!

[meditrina]

How about Shakesperean?

Viola, Portia, Desdemona, Portia, Rosalind, Celia, Mopsa?

[RadioFourNotRadioSnore]

Rosamund

Rosalind

Juliet

Cecilia

[ashtrayheart]

Catherine

[mistyegg]

Cordelia
Imogen
Mirabel

[mathanxiety]

Anstice (Norman - Anastasia)
Berengaria
Elfrieda
Petronella (Norman)
Adelaide (Norman)
Alison (strangely enough)
Clarimund
Eleanor
Elysande
Heloise/ Eloise
Millicent
Isolde/ Yseult
Rosamund
Rosalind
Clare
Juliana
Anchoret (possibly from Welsh Angharad)
Honora/ Annora
Jehane
Guinevere
Benedicta
Helen
Katherine
Margaret
Averil
Audrey (from Etheldreda)
Marjorie
Sibylla
Amabel/ Annabel/ Arabel

[mathanxiety]

And Aphrah / Aphra

[mathanxiety]

Inga
Jacqueline/ Jacquetta

[LeggyBlondeNE]

Hmm define English? Most of the names people have suggested above are French. Because high status Medieval English people mostly spoke French until quite late on. A few are derived from Ancient British languages (mostly filtered through Norman French) and a few are from Anglo Saxon languages, ie German, and filtered the same way. I would pick a era and go look up names from then, but not get hung up on Englishness..

[hobbjobb]

Cecily does mean 'blind', but she is also the patron saint of musicians which has a nicer meaning

[ViviPru]

MistyEgg I don't trust that search... I've just changed the list to 1980. Surely the boys names are incorrect:

1 Chaim
2 Kameron
3 Isaia
4 Coy
5 Jakob
6 Garrick
7 Taurean
8 Kraig
9 Lazaro
10 Houston

For 1980????

[utopian99]

Love Isolde, Sybilla, Aphra.

Happy not to be obsessed over the English bit - the only thing driving that was ds' name is old English but most people actually think it's not of English origin at all...

[Hadagutsful]

yy to Alice, but spelled the Middle English way which is Alys I think. wasn't it Chaucer's Wife of Bath's name? I like to think of it being pronounced more like "Ahhlis" than a short A sound.