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Geni naming conventions - Anglo Saxon
See the projects Geni naming conventions and Geni naming conventions - data entry for general guidance.
- Use ordinary case. Name Preference Settings can be used to change how names are displayed to your personal preference.
- Name as close to original name as possible, language, geography and time period to be taken into consideration.
- Anglo-Saxon names for Anglo-Saxon people (see the FMG-site listed above for info if unsure)
- Adjust First Name field to avoid misunderstandings or mistaken identity where necessary, by adding order/number or byname.
- Maiden names are normally avoided as there were none at the time.
- All names a person is known by in any source listed in Nicknames: bynames (especially in English), additional titles, variations.
Names
Germanic given names are traditionally dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements, by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, King Æþelred's name was derived from æþele, for "noble", and ræd, for "counsel".
However, there are also names dating from an early time which seem to be monothematic, consisting only of a single element. These are sometimes explained as hypocorisms, short forms of originally dithematic names, but in many cases the etymology of the supposed original name cannot be recovered.[1]
The oldest known Germanic names date to the Roman Empire period, such as those of Arminius and his wife Thusnelda in the 1st century[AD?], and in greater frequency, especially Gothic names, in the late Roman Empire, in the 4th to 5th centuries (the Germanic Heroic Age).[2]
A great variety of names are attested from the medieval period, falling into the rough categories of Scandinavian (Old Norse), Anglo-Saxon (Old English), continental (Frankish, Old High German and Low German), and East Germanic (see Gothic names[3]) forms.
By the High Middle Ages, many of these names had undergone numerous sound changes and/or were abbreviated, so that their derivation is not always clear.
Of the large number of medieval Germanic names, a comparatively small set remains in common use today. In modern times, the most frequent name of Germanic origin in the English-speaking world has traditionally been William (from an Old High German Willahelm), followed by Richard, Robert and Charles (Carl, after Charlemagne).
Many native English (Anglo-Saxon) names fell into disuse in the later Middle Ages, but experienced a revival in the Victorian era; some of these are Edward, Edwin, Edmund, Edgar, Alfred, Oswald and Harold for males; the female names Mildred and Gertrude also continue to be used in present day, Audrey continues the Anglo-Norman (French) form of the Anglo-Saxon Æðelþryð, while the name Godiva is a Latin form of Godgifu. Some names, like Howard and Ronald, are thought to originate from multiple Germanic languages, including Anglo-Saxon.
History
Introduction
https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLAND,%20AngloSaxon%20&%20Danish...
The various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were founded by immigrants from northern continental Europe who landed and settled in different parts of England during the 5th and 6th centuries. The numerous early settlements, described in the 11th century Tribal Hidage[1], grouped together over time into seven main kingdoms. The kingdom of Kent was settled principally by Jutes, the kingdoms of East Anglia and Northumbria by Angles, and the kingdoms of Essex (East Saxons), Mercia, Sussex (South Saxons) and Wessex (West Saxons) mainly by Saxons, although the precise origin of the settlers is open to debate as discussed below.
After the Norman Conquest
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxons#After_the_Norman_Conquest
Many Anglo-Saxon people needed to learn Norman French to communicate with their rulers, but it is clear that among themselves they kept speaking Old English, which meant that England was in an interesting tri-lingual situation: Anglo-Saxon for the common people, Latin for the Church, and Norman French for the administrators, the nobility, and the law courts. In this time, and because of the cultural shock of the Conquest, Anglo-Saxon began to change very rapidly, and by 1200 or so, it was no longer Anglo-Saxon English, but early Middle English.[137] But this language had deep roots in Anglo-Saxon, which was being spoken much later than 1066. Research has shown that a form of Anglo-Saxon was still being spoken, and not merely among uneducated peasants, into the thirteenth century in the West Midlands.[138] This was J.R.R. Tolkien's major scholarly discovery when he studied a group of texts written in early Middle English called the Katherine Group.[139] Tolkien noticed that a subtle distinction preserved in these texts indicated that Old English had continued to be spoken far longer than anyone had supposed.[138]
Old English had been a central mark of the Anglo-Saxon cultural identity. With the passing of time, however, and particularly following the Norman conquest of England, this language changed significantly, and although some people (for example the scribe known as the Tremulous Hand of Worcester) could still read Old English into the thirteenth century, it fell out of use and the texts became useless. The Exeter Book, for example, seems to have been used to press gold leaf and at one point had a pot of fish-based glue sitting on top of it. For Michael Drout this symbolises the end of the Anglo-Saxons.[140]
After 1066, it took more than three centuries for English to replace French as the language of government. The 1362 parliament opened with a speech in English and in the early 15th century, Henry V became the first monarch, since before the 1066 conquest, to use English in his written instructions.[141]
Life and society
The larger narrative, seen in the history of Anglo-Saxon England, is the continued mixing and integration of various disparate elements into one Anglo-Saxon people. The outcome of this mixing and integration was a continuous re-interpretation by the Anglo-Saxons of their society and worldview, which Heinreich Härke calls a "complex and ethnically mixed society".
References
- Anglo-Saxon names < Wikipedia >
- Anglo-Saxons < Wikipedia >
- ENGLAND, ANGLO-SAXON & DANISH KINGS < link >
- Old English given names < Wiktionary >