Old English names

[WorldWildWifeFund]

I have just got a fab edition of the Domesday Book in modern translation. This was an inventory of all places (in England only) with taxable land, listing the owners, tenants etc. in the year 1086-7. William the Conqueror had it done to find out who owned what, and how much money he could get from it in taxes, fines for offences etc. My point here is that there are lots of old English names listed (mostly men, but a few women), some I think usable today. For example Azelin, Arni, Ansgar, Almer, Gamal, Karli, Osmer, Osmund, Ramkel, Stenulf, Wynstan. If you're looking for a name connected with a place, I can find the place entry for you and tell you the associated names. Most placenames in England are included.

This will help me because the Domesday Book is mostly just a list, so hard to crack into unless you have interest in specific places, but interesting details are sometimes included, eg "has a hawk's eyrie", "the fine for raping a woman".

That's really fascinating. What names are associated with Southampton please?

Wow, WWWF, that really is fascinating. How did you get hold of that? If you have the time or inclination, I'd love to know Bristol or Bath.

Wow Southampton has lots of names

Oda
Eskil
Ketil
Fugel
Tosti
Alric
Gerin
Cypping
Godwine
Aiulf
Osbern
Turstin
Ansketil

Anjou, amazingly the edition is a Penguin paperback, published 2002 -

www.amazon.co.uk/Domesday-Book-Complete-Translation-Classics/dp/0141439947 - actually you can look inside the book on Amazon, and find entries yourself.

Bristol names are
Herlwin
Algar
Azelin
Eadric
Osbern

Great find, WWWF! Thanks for the Bristol list. I think I could spend hours getting lost in this book - it's going on my birthday present list! Thanks for the heads up.

What about Manchester names?

Thank you . Ketil and Tosti made me laugh! Very relevant to me (kettle and toastie). I will put the book on my wishlist.

Slightly off topic but my grandmas house is in the doomsday book the only one in our area,

Back on topic really love some of the old names

Manchester was not viewed as an entity at the time, so I've looked for places now within the Greater Manchester area. All I've found are DUNHAM (Aescwulf), ELTON (Toki, Grim), CHORLTON (Frani), WARBURTON (Earnwig), BREDBURY (Wulfric - and Bredbury had a hawk's eyrie at the time).

Names I came across that I like during this search (places in Cheshire but not Manchester area) were -

Morcar
Siward
Ulfkil
Leofric
Hakun
Alric
Godric
Hardwin
Arngrim
Drogo
Colbert
Mundret
Fulk
Rawn
Stenulf
Gunnar
Aelfric

Also made the discovery that Dot and Dedol were men's names at this time.

Ooh fascinating!! Can I have names linked with Newcastle?

Oh yes that was silly of me. Is Stretford or Didsbury listed at all?

For ThinkIveBeenHacked (Newcastle)

Woops, discovered that not all places are listed in the Domesday Book.

Wikipedia says "There are no surveys of London and Winchester, probably due to their tax-exempt status, and some other towns. Most of Cumberland and Westmorland are missing because they had yet to be conquered at the time, and County Durham is lacking because the Bishop of Durham (William de St-Calais) had the exclusive right to tax it; parts of northeast England were covered by the 1183 Boldon Book, which listed those areas liable to tax by the Bishop of Durham. The omission of the other counties is not fully explained."

Had a look at the Boldon Book, a bit of which is online, and found

Elfer
Amfrid

named as tenants in Ryhope & Burdon.

For CaptWingo: Stretford is not listed, but this website of Domesday online gives Salford and Baguley as geographically nearest mentions to Stretford.

From Baguley we have -
Alweard
Sucga
Wudumann
Pat

From Salford-
Gamal
Nigel
Warin
Geoffrey

I think some of those Salford names are Norman French, not sure about Gamal. Anyway, it says about him "Gamal, holding 2 hides [bits of land] in Rochdale was quit of his customs except these 6: theft, housebreaking, highway robbery, breach of the king's peace, breach of a due date set by the reeve, continuance of fighting after the oath was made. For these he paid a fine of 40 shillings." I think 'quit of his customs' means he didn't have to pay certain taxes - so possibly he was one of the Normans

If you look on this website you can search by map:
www.domesdaybook.co.uk/contents.html

Lots of chronicles etc. can be found online as well if you are interested, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which covers from about 400 to 1100 AD if you are after more inspiration! (can you tell what I did my degree in? )