Create An Anglo-Saxon Name

Anglo-Saxons, among other ethnic groups, such as the Greeks, were notorious for their naming patterns, specifically the use of elements. Elements are the parts that make up a name, essentially. For instance, Edward is composed of two elements ed meaning “riches” and ward meaning “guardian”, rendering rich guard. Dithematic given names are names composed of two elements, which was common in Anglo-Saxon England.

In the Anglo-Saxon royal families, a king and a queen might have five or so children. Both the king and queen have dithematic names, so that is four elements between the two of them (if there is no overlap). So, how the family might name their children is combine their elements in different ways or use one element, like ecg, and maybe add a unique element to their little pool of elements. This produced hundreds of variations, and I'm guessing (from the amount of research I did) that at least one person per name bore a different combination of these elements.

I've compiled all the Anglo-Saxon elements used with names back then, and then taking the liberty of adding more Old English words, using online Old English dictionaries (here and here). Have fun, and if you make a combination you love, congrats! You're a real Tolkien! Comment to share your spectacular creation!

[Side note: G = Germanic, ON = Old Norse, OE = Old English, OS = Old Saxon.]

Element	Origin	Meaning	Variants	Examples	Notes
amal	G	labor, work	ame, em, emme, milli	Millicent	used more in Germany
angil	G	Angle	engel, engil, ing	Engelbert
arn	ON	eagle		Arnold
ass	ON	god	as	Aswig
atta	G	father	ath	Athulf
beadu	OE	battle	bad, bab, bead	Beaduburh
beald	OE	bold	bal, ball, bald	Baldwin
beofor	OE	beaver	bever	Beverley
beorht	OE	bright	berht, bert, berth, brict	Bertram, Robert
beorn	OE	bear	ben, bern, born, borne, bourne, burn	Beornwulf, Osborn
bliþ	OE	gentle, happy	beth, bleth, blith, blithe, blythe	Bliththryth
blæc	OE	black, dark		Blæcmann	rare
brego	OE	prince, lord, ruler	brege, bregu	Bregoswith
bræmel	OE	bramble	brembel, bremel	Brembel
brær	OE	briar, bramble	brer, brere, briar, brier
burg	G	fortress	borough, borow, burga, burh, burk	Cwenburg, Kynborow	used almost exclusively for women
celde	OE	spring	celda, kelda	Alkelda
cene	OE	bold, kene	cen, coen, ken	Kenelm
ceol	OE	keep (of a ship)	cel, chele, ciol	Ceolwyn
cuþ	OE	famous, known	cod, coth	Cuthbert
cwen	OE	woman, wife	queen, quen, quene	Cwenthryth, Leofcwen	only found in women’s names
cyn	OE	kin	cyn
cyne	OE	royal	chene, ken, kim, kyn, kyne	Cynehild
dæg	OE	day	daei, dag, dai, daia, day	Daisy, Leofdæg	less common name element
dene	OE	Dane	dan, den	Haldane
deor	OE	dear	dar	Darwin, Deorswith
dun	OE	dark	dunne	Dunstan
ead	OE	wealth, riches, fortune	ad, ed, id, æd	Edward, Edith	very common name element
eage	OE	eye	eye, y	Daisy	never used in Anglo-Saxon England
ealh	OE	temple	al, el, æl	Ealhmund
eard	OE	land	ad, ard	Eardwulf	not particularly common element
ecg	OE	edge (of a sword)	age, edg, eg	Ecgburg
eald	OE		æld	Ealdgyth
eoh	OE	horse	eo
eorcen	OE	genuine		Eorcengota
eoster	OE	Easter	easter, ælstr	Eosterwine	related to Germanic goddess Eostre?
fearn	OE	fern	farn, fearn, fern	Fern	modern invention
flæd	OE	beauty	fled, flede, fleda, flet, flethe	Heanflæd	mostly used for women
fela	OE	much, a lot	fele, felu, feolo	Feleburg	extremely rare
Frige	OE	Frige, Germanic goddess	fri, frig, frigg	Friday	cognate of ON Frigg
friÞ	OE	peace	fred, frey, fride, frith, fritha	Ceolfrith	popular name element
fugol	OE	bird, fowl	fugl, fugul, fvgel, fvgl, fvhl, vugel	Sæfugol, Winterfugol	uncommon
fulc	OE	people, folk, nation, tribe	folc, folk, ful	Fulbert	uncommon but not rare
fus	OE	eager, brave, noble	fus	Cenfus	probable meaning
gar	OE	spear	car, gari	Edgar, Oscar
geat	OE	gate
god	OE	god	god, gode, good	Godfrey
giedd	OE	story, tale, song, poem	giedda	Giedda	single element use
giefu	OE	gift	eva, gife, gifu, giva, gyfa, gyfe, ieue, ive	Godiva
glæd	OE	bright	glæd, glad	Gladwin
gold	OE	gold		Goldstan, Goldwine	uncommon, rare
grim	OE	fierce, severe
cene	OE	bold, kene	cen, cene, coen, ken	Kenrick
grœni	span style=“font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif”>OE	green	green, gren		no names used this element during the time period
gyð	OE	battle	ith, ytha, ythe	Edith
hadu	G	battle, combat	ed, hade, hed	Hedwig
haga	OE	enclosure	hag
halig	OE	holy	al
heafoc	OE	hawk	hafoc	Westorualcna	uncommon
heah	OE	exalted, high
healf	OE	half	half, hal	Haldane
hean	OE	low, humble, poor
heard	OE	brave, hardy	ard, att, ot	Wyatt
hearp	OE	harp	harp
helm	G	helmet, protection	am, elm, elmi, helm	William
heort	OE	deer, hart, stag	heoro
here	OE	army	er, har, here	Harold, Walter
hild	G	battle	childa, hild, hild, hilda, hilde, hilt, ild, ilda, ildr, ildæ, nelda, nella, nilda	Hildebrand, Matilda
hlud	G	famous, loud	chlod, clot, hludo, lot, lou, lud	Clotilda
hris	OE	brushwood, scrub	ris	Risborough	uncommon
hroð	OE	fame	hroth, rod	Roderick
hros	G	horse	ros, rosa	Rosamund
hrum	G	raven	ram	Bertram, Ingram	Norman import
hun	G	bear cub	hun, hum, in, un	Humbert
hug	G	thought, heart, spirit	hu, huge, hugh, hune, hyge	Hugh	cognate of Old English hyge
hwit	OE	white	wiht, whit
hyge	OE	thought, desire, mind	hoga, hogu, ige, yge	Hygeburg
>hyse	OE	warrior, youth		Godhyse
hæl	OE	heal	al
<hæð	OE	heath	heath
Ing	G	Ing	ing, inge	Ingemar
ketel	OS	kettle, cauldron
kuni	G	clan, family	cuni, kuni
laf	OE	remains, legacy	lafa, lafe, lava	span style=“color: hotpink; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif”>Oslafe
leof	OE	dear, agreeable, beloved	lef, leff, leofu, lev	Leofric	popular for both men and women
linde	G	soft, tender	lind, linda, linde, line	Rosalind
lufu	OE	love	love, luf	Loveday
maht	G	might, strength	maht, mat, macht	Matilda
man	G	man	mann, manni	Blæcmann	uncommon but not rare, usage exclusive to men
mær	OE	famous	mer	Kimberley
milde	OE	gentle, mild	mild, mil	Mildred
mund	G	protection	mond, monde, mund, munda	Raymond	usage more common on the Continent
noð	OE	daring, boldness; plunder	nod, nodi, noth	Notburga
ord	OE	point (of a weapon)	ori	Ordgar
os	OE	god	os	Oscar, Oswald
oxa	OE	ox	ox	Oxford
ragin	G	advice, counsel	ragin, rain, rayn, reyn, ron	Reynald
ric	G	power, rule	ric, rici, rich, rick	Frederick, Richard
run	ON	secret, advice, counsel	run, runa, rune, run	Wulfrun
sæx	OE	dagger, knife, dirk	seax	Seaxburg
sele	OE	great hall, house		Selemann
sidu	OE	habit, practice, custom		Leofsidu	rare
sige	OE	victory	si, sige, sy	Sigeflæd
stan	OE	stone	stani	Dunstan, Stanley	common element for men
sumor	OE	summer	somer, sumer, summer, sumr, svmr	Sumerlida	Sumerlida was a moneyer of Æthelred the Unready
swete	OE	sweet, pure, fragrant, pleasant	swet	Swetmann	common element for men
swiÞ	OE	strength, mighty, severe, violent	suid, svid, swide, swith, switha, swithe, swið, swyde	Frideswide
sunne	OE	sun	sunn, synn	Sunniva
Tiw	OE	Tyr, Germanic god	tig, tir, tue	Tuesday	uncommon
torht	OE	radiant, beautiful	torht	Torhtswith
tid	OE	time, period, season	tidd, tyd	Tidemær
trum	OE	firm, secure, strong, vigorous	trum	Trumwine	Trumwine was a Northumbrian bishop
treow	OE	tree, wood, timber	tre, tree, treo, treue, trew, trow
tun	OE	enclosure, garden, field, yard, village, town	tune	Tuneman
weald	OE	power, ruler, leader	ald, old, wald, walt, weald, wold, woldi	Walter, Oswald	common element for men
weard	OE	guard, guardian	ard, ward, wardi, wart, weard	Edward	common element for men
wer	OE	man	were
west	OE	westwards		Westorualcna	extremely rare
>weÞe	OE	mild, pleasant	weth	Wethburg	uncommon
wif	OE	woman, wife	wife, wive	Godwif	used exclusively for women
wig	OE	war, battle	pge, pig, uui, uuig, wig, wis, wy	Wigburg
wil	OE	will, desire	wil, will, willi	William
wine	OE	friend	uini, vin, win, wine, wini, wyn, wynne	Godwine	popular element
winter	OE	winter	pinter, pintr, wintr	Winterleda	Winterleda was a moneyer of Æthelred the Unready
witu	OE	tree, wood	wid
Woden	OE	Woden, Germanic god	wedne, wodan, wotan	Wednesday	cognate of Norse god Odin
wulf	G	wolf	olf, olph, ul, ulf, ulfi, uul, wulph, wulv	Beornwulf
wynn	<OE	joy, rapture, pleasure	wen, wynn	Mærwynn	used exclusively for women
æðel	OE	noble	al, athel, ayl, el, ethel, ethyl, æil	Ethelinda	popular amongst men and women, mostly used as first element, cognate of German adel
ælf	OE	elf	alf, alv, elf, elv	Alfred	popular amongst men and women
æsc	OE	ash	aesc, asc, ash, ecs, ess, ælsc	Æscwynn	uncommon usage in Anglo-Saxon England
æx	OE	axe
Þegn	OE	thane, servant, soldier, warrior	thain, than, thegn, thein	Thegnwine
Þorr	ON	Thor	thor, thur, thunr, tor	Thurstan	adopted after Viking invasions
Þryð	OE	strength	thryth, dred	Elfreda, Mildred	usage exclusive to women
Þurs	ON	a giant	thurs, thus, thuss, turs, tus, tus	Thusnelda