Names through history
Medieval English Names
At a glance
After the Norman Conquest of 1066, English families gradually swapped Old English names for ones the Normans brought, such as William, Robert and Richard, and for saints' names like John. By the 1200s a handful of names covered a large share of men, so people told each other apart with pet forms such as Hob, Dick and Wilkin. Many of those pet forms later became surnames: Hobbs, Dixon, Wilkins.
- Period
- 1066 to about 1500
- Most common men's name
- William, followed by John, Richard and Robert in the 1200s
- Common women's names
- Alice, Agnes, Joan, Matilda (Maud), Isabel, Emma, Margaret
- Pet-name endings
- -kin, -cock, -ot, -et, -in (Wilkin, Hancock, Elliot, Robin)
- In written records
- Names were usually written in Latin: Willelmus, Johannes, Ricardus
Medieval names and the pet forms that grew from them
| Name | Meaning or origin | Status |
|---|---|---|
| William Norman French, from Germanic | From words meaning 'will, desire' and 'helmet'. Brought by the Normans and the commonest man's name by the 1200s. [1] | Recorded |
| Robert Norman French, from Germanic | From words meaning 'fame' and 'bright'. [1] | Recorded |
| Richard Norman French, from Germanic | From words meaning 'power' and 'hardy, brave'. [1] | Recorded |
| John Latin Johannes, from Hebrew | A saint's name that spread widely after the Conquest. [1] | Recorded |
| Edward Old English | One of the few Old English names to stay popular, helped by the royal saint Edward the Confessor. [1] | Recorded |
| Hob and Dob Middle English | Rhyming pet forms of Robert. They gave the surnames Hobbs, Hobson, Dobbs and Dobson. [2] | Recorded |
| Hodge Middle English | A pet form of Roger, behind the surnames Hodges and Hodgson. [2] | Recorded |
| Dick Middle English | A rhyming pet form of Richard, behind Dickson, Dixon and Dickens. [2] | Recorded |
| Wilkin Middle English | Will (William) plus the diminutive -kin. Behind Wilkins and Wilkinson. [2] | Recorded |
| Hancock Middle English | Han, a pet form of John (and perhaps sometimes Henry), plus the diminutive -cock. [2] | Recorded |
| Elliot Middle English | Usually explained as Elias or Ellis plus the French diminutive -ot, but some forms may come from an Old English name instead. [2] | Uncertain |
| Willelmus Medieval Latin | How a clerk would write William in a charter or court roll. [3] | Recorded |
| Bill English | A rhyming form of Will. It is usually dated to well after the Middle Ages, though the exact date is disputed. [1] | Uncertain |
- Recorded Found in historical records.
- Uncertain The origin or meaning is disputed or unproven.
What the Normans changed
Before 1066 most English people had Old English names built from two parts, like Æthelred or Wulfstan. The Normans brought a different stock: names of Continental Germanic origin such as William, Robert, Richard, Ralph, Walter, Roger and Hugh.[1] Over the next few generations English families took these up too, first among landholders and then much more widely.
The change wasn't overnight, and historians still debate how much was the Conquest itself and how much was fashion and the growing cult of the saints. Alongside the Norman names came saints' names such as John, Thomas, Nicholas and Peter. A few Old English names survived, mostly where a royal saint kept them alive: Edward, after Edward the Confessor, and Edmund, after the martyred king of East Anglia.[1]
A very small pool of names
By the 1200s the range of men's names had narrowed sharply. In the Fine Rolls of Henry III, William accounts for roughly one man in seven, and William, John, Richard and Robert together for over a third.[5] Studies of other records give somewhat different figures, so treat the exact percentages as approximate, but the pattern is the same everywhere: a village could have several Williams and Johns at once.
That is one reason surnames became necessary in this period. A second name, whether a place, a job, a father's name or a nickname, told the Williams apart.[2]
Women's names
Women's names followed the same path. Old English names such as Æthelflæd and Eadgifu gave way to names the Normans favoured, and to saints' names. Alice, Agnes, Joan, Matilda, Isabel, Emma and Margaret were among the most common, with Alice near the top of many lists.[5] Matilda was usually said, and often written, as Maud, and Joan grew in popularity as the feminine of John.[1]
Women's names took pet forms too, and some became surnames in the same way. Emmott, from Emma with the French ending -ot, is one. Others passed to children as mothers' names, which is why a few English surnames come from women's names rather than men's.[2] Records of women are thinner than records of men, so counts of women's names are less certain.
Pet forms and rhyming nicknames
In everyday speech people rarely used the full name. They shortened it, and often changed the first sound to make a rhyme: Robert gave Rob, Hob and Dob; Richard gave Dick and Hick; Roger gave Hodge.[2][4] They also added little endings that worked like '-y' or '-ie' today:
- -kin, probably from Flemish or Low German: Wilkin, Watkin (Walter), Jenkin (John).
- -cock, of uncertain origin: Wilcock, Hancock.
- -ot and -et, from French: Elliot, Emmott.
- -in, also from French: Robin, from Rob.
Many of these pet forms became surnames, often with -s or -son added: Hobbs, Dixon, Hodgson, Wilkins, Watkins, Jenkins, Wilcox, Robinson.[2] Some popular stories go further than the evidence. 'Bill' for William, for example, is usually dated to long after the Middle Ages.[1]
Names in the records
Most of what we know comes from written records, and those were usually in Latin. A clerk writing a charter, a court roll or a tax list turned William into Willelmus, John into Johannes and Richard into Ricardus, even when everyone in the village said Will, Jack or Dick.[3] Pet forms do turn up, especially in later court rolls and as surnames, which is how scholars can date them.
If you're naming a medieval character, mix a common baptismal name with a byname a neighbour would actually use: William the smith, Hob of the mill, Wat son of Roger. That is closer to how people were known than a long, grand name.