English -ish, or whatever: How did English language names evolve from Ethelwulf to Bob?

Chuck Thompson | The Sunday Column

OPINION / HUMOR – As English speakers (heirs of the English language, regardless of your ancestry, this is about the language itself) our names technically do not follow the traditional oath of English names, which is fine; we should be all about unique and beautiful names, whatever your parents picked for you should be honored and celebrated; I hope you like your name — but traditionally, we (in the terms of historical usage as English language speakers) lost rooted “English” names a long time ago.

Our names line up more akin to Northern Germanic / Scandinavian and Roman Latin (or any of the romance languages) and Hebrew and Greek names than what were traditionally “English” names — at least until the Viking invasion.

Forget the technical aspects of English being a made up language.

And even though the Vikings sort of lost their grasp on England (technically lost Danelaw - disputed by that of the Normans conquest) we, as direct language (not ethnicity but language) descendants of the creation of English speakers, lost our true English names almost a thousand years ago.

As historical English speakers, we had awesome names like Ethelwulf, Ceolwulf, Pybba, Athelred, Peada and Wulfhere — but then the Dutch, Norwegian and Scandinavians brought their influences and gave us first names that we recognize today, (if not last names) such as Eric, Anderson, and Larry the Cable Guy.

These names seem to have become the custom, leaving such names as Wulfhere and Peada to disappear into lore.

It’s interesting how names can fall to the the wayside, influenced by wars of conquest and migration.

Names dating back to the Bible are still used every day, such as John, Noah, Adam, Joshua and David, all from the Old Testament, thousands of years ago B.C.E. — yet, just a millennium ago you or I might have had an ancestral name such as Wiglaf, Offa, or Athelewulf that … married a Norman gal and decided to ruin everything by naming her baby “Roger” or “Bill” or just “Fred” …. maybe even Larry  

Fast Forward a thousand years later, and here’s … Chuck. ??

It’s just fascinating to me how names can come and go, and certain influences are able to overtake an entire history over time and we go from “Aethelwulf of Wessex” to become “Bobby from Cedar Falls.”

Hope you’re having a happy Sunday (Sunnandæg, Day of the Sun)

Regards,

— “Chuck of Shelby”

… Nope. Just doesn’t sound as cool as “Coenwulf of Mercia” does.

This is all your fault, Bede (Bede is known as the “The Father of English History” who lived in the 7th & 8th Centuries). Oh – Maybe Bob is the modern version of Bede? If so, what a compliment to all the Bobs.

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