Boys names ! OLD ENGLISH

[RLou3]

Hi all,

Wondered if anyone could please help. Struggling so much with picking a boys name! I like really unusual but DH does not! So compromising on a name that is heard of but not common! Any ideas... please post xxxx

Peter. Lovely name, barely used anymore!

Griffith

Adelbert, Aelfric, Athelstan and that's just the "A"s I considered. Then I had a girl...

Thank you for all suggestions! Must say - majority of these are an absolute no go! I really like Arthur but think too common! Ah this is so hard!!!!!! Love Theodore but also too common ! Xx

Garth

What do you all think of Ernest?! I think I like that!! Xxx

OP, 'Old English' means Anglo-Saxon, hence all the suggestions for Hrothgar and Æthelred.

Did you mean 'traditional English'?

Cedric

OP, 'Old English' means Anglo-Saxon, hence all the suggestions for Hrothgar and Æthelred.

That has to be a classic 'only on Mumsnet' sentence

Lol.. yes I meant traditional English. Sorry

@ZoyaTheDestroyer

OP, 'Old English' means Anglo-Saxon, hence all the suggestions for Hrothgar and Æthelred.

Did you mean 'traditional English'?

Lol, yes I was thinking Old English as in Anglo-Saxon, I couldn’t quite get my head round the multiple suggestions of “Norman”!

Otis
Albert
Walter
Wilfred
Ernest
Leonard
Lionel
Ivor
Ivan
Reginald
Roland
Frank
Francis
Arnold
Edgar
Quentin
Jasper
Clyde
Claude
ClemenT
Cedric
Evan
Ralph
Felix
Percy

Well then:

John
Charles
Edward
William
Richard
Henry
George
Stephen
Oliver
Arthur

@Futuroute

OP, 'Old English' means Anglo-Saxon, hence all the suggestions for Hrothgar and Æthelred.

That has to be a classic 'only on Mumsnet' sentence

I think Hrothgar might technically be Danish…before someone corrects me!

Yes Zoya but those Vikings had huge influence. I'm wondering if Old English may also pre-date Anglo Saxon.

And there are some really awesome OE names too, Offa, Acca, Podda, etc!

@RosesAndHellebores

Yes Zoya but those Vikings had huge influence. I'm wondering if Old English may also pre-date Anglo Saxon.

Interesting! Perhaps. I have always followed the example of my university tutors by using OE and A-S synonymously, at least when referring to the language. I’m sure scholarship has moved on the last twenty years though.

@RosesAndHellebores

Yes Zoya but those Vikings had huge influence. I'm wondering if Old English may also pre-date Anglo Saxon.

Old English and Anglo-Saxon are synonymous. The Anglo Saxons and the Vikings didn’t like each other.

If Old English and Anglo Saxon are synonymous what were those who were here before the Anglo Saxons arrived? Surely the oldest of the English must be the Picts and Celts?

I am feeling rather sorry for the OP.

My favorite Old English name (or names from that era) are Magnus, Ivar, Erik, Harold/Harald, Norman for Norse ones, Cedric, Dylan, Sorley, Keir for Celtic ones, Gareth (quite weak on other Ger/Gar names which derives from spear etym*), Giles, Arthur, Chester, Tristan, Alfred and Frederick for later ones.

I like many medieval boys names, although not crazy on all of them.

@RLou3

Thank you for all suggestions! Must say - majority of these are an absolute no go! I really like Arthur but think too common! Ah this is so hard!!!!!! Love Theodore but also too common ! Xx

I kind of feel the same, I read a lot about medieval names and they are definitely hard to love.

I like Ernest OP.
Its nice.

You like Arthur and Theodore but too well used? How about something like Stanley? Lionel?

@RosesAndHellebores

If Old English and Anglo Saxon are synonymous what were those who were here before the Anglo Saxons arrived? Surely the oldest of the English must be the Picts and Celts?

I am feeling rather sorry for the OP.

My understanding is that you wouldn’t use the terms ‘England’ or English to refer to the period before the arrival of the Angles / Saxons / Jutes. Prior to this you have the Roman province of Britannia, and in the period after the fall of the Roman Empire you have Britons who are variously displaced or assimilated by invading Gaelic tribes from the west and Germanic tribes from the East.

But yes, poor OP with a thread full of Æthelreds. Maybe start a new one?!

I love Anglo-Saxon names. I don't have children but if I did, they'd be Æthelreds and Hrothgars. Perhaps just as well that I don't .

Peyton
Oakley
Weston
Floyd
Channing
Vance
Hadley
Byron
Devon
Emmet
Lawson
Kinsey
Sheridan
Winston