In the early Middle Ages, both Roman and Germanic names were in circulation
among the aristocracy; a secular lord sometimes had a Germanic name while his
ecclesiastical brother had a Roman name. Whatever type of name a person was given, it
seems in most cases to have been either the name or a variation of the name of a close
relative. Until the 9th century, Germanic names commonly had two elements; parents
could recombine elements of their own and their relatives’ names in assigning names for
their children. For example, at the end of the 8th century, the noble couple Witburgis and
William, ancestors of the dukes of Aquitaine, named two of their children Witcher and
Helimburgis. The recombination of name elements resulted in an enormous number of
personal names in circulation.
From the 9th to the 12th centuries, noble children were generally given complete
names that identified them with close relatives. No generalized naming “rules” obtained,
even within a single lineage, but a child was much more likely to be named for some
people than for others. In most cases, parents chose the names of people they had known
personally, rarely related more distantly than an aunt or uncle.
In by far the majority of cases, at least through the 11th century, both boys and girls
were given names identifying them with their father’s side of the family. Only if the
mother’s lineage was more important than the father’s were any of a couple’s boys
named for her male relatives. Girls, too, were routinely named for their fathers’ mother,
sisters, and aunts. Among the upper aristocracy of the 9th and 10th centuries, the only
group whose naming patterns can be clearly discerned, girls were almost never named for
their own mothers. New women’s names nevertheless constantly entered noble lineages,
for even if a woman did not name a daughter for herself, each of her sons might name a
daughter for her. In the 11th and 12th centuries, however, it became more common for a
man to name a daughter for his own wife, or even in some cases for that wife’s mother,
an unheard-of practice earlier.
The oldest children were named the most assiduously for relatives. The oldest boy was
generally named for his father or paternal grandfather. As a result, many lineages
consisted of men all having the same personal name, or an alternation of two names, if
boys were named for grandfa-thers with names different from their fathers’. The father’s
or grandfather’s name, an integral part of the lineage’s inheritance, was important enough
that it was usually given to another son if the oldest died. Younger sons might be named
for their paternal uncles or great-uncles or, if he was a particularly important man, for
their maternal grandfather. In some cases, younger sons might also be named for
important allies. Less powerful members of the aristocracy commonly named their sons,
often even the oldest ones, for their lords rather than their own relatives. These lords may
often have served as godfathers. The oldest girl was most commonly named for her
father’s mother; her sisters were named for their paternal aunts and great-aunts and,
increasingly in the 11th and 12th centuries, for their own mother or maternal
grandmother. Children destined for a clerical life were frequently named for relatives
already in the church.
The decision what to name a child could be a difficult one for medieval parents. With
no set rules to follow, all parents had to decide individually what names to give their
children, names that would identify them with close relatives at the same time as they
were an integral part of the children’s own identity.
Constance B.Bouchard
The Encyclopedia 1359