Favourite English Name

I can´t understand why there´s somebody in this forum using my nick to talk rubbish. To whoever is doing that...believe me, i understand that you´re a teenager and that your hormones are too excited at the moment but just dont worry because sooner or later it will go and you´ll feel MUCH better.

Adam and Damian : chances are the Round Table is a fiction made up in France.

Henri II Plantagenêt (1133-1189) – second husband of Aliénor d’Aquitaine (1122-1204), duchess of Aquitaine – utilised the Arthurian myth to forge a powerful propaganda against Capetian imperialism incarnate in Louis VII (1120-1180) – Aliénor’s first husband. Chroniclers like Pierre de Blois and Gautier Map claimed that Henri II was familiar with four languages : he could read Latin, speak French and understand Provençal (Occitan) and Italian. But he knew no English and was deprived of any Celtic or Anglo-Saxon lineage. Nevertheless Henri II had to pacify England, wished to subdue Wales and Scotland and conquer Ireland. Henri II required Robert Wace (or Vasse or Guace or de Gacé), a Normand cleric from Jersey, to draw up Normand spin in the guise of ‘romans’ or ‘gestes’ – successful medieval formats for pseudo-historiography. Later, in 1155, Wace completed a co-translation of “Historia Regum Britanniae” by Geoffroy de Monmouth into Old French and brought it to Aliénor – wife of Henri II for now 3 years – under the title « Roman de Brut » : Brut = Brutus, father of Br(e)(i)tons, of ‘Trojan’ descent and of course duly deemed Henri II’s ancestor.

The original text of « Roman de Brut »
Fist le rois apeler Costant
A Guincestre le fist norir
Là le fist moine devenir

English (sorry : my translation)
The king sent for Constant
Raised him in Winchester
There made him become a monk

Innovations like “Table Ronde” or “Excalibur” are first recorded in « Roman de Brut » (here in Modern French) :
Pour ses nobles seigneurs dont chacun s’estimait le meilleur, dont nul ne savait qui était le moins bon, Arthur fît faire la Table Ronde dont les Bretons racontent bien des récits.

In 1203 Layamon translated « Roman de Brut » into Old English, known as Layamons’ Brut. That’s perhaps how ‘Round Table’ came to English.

Damien (hee-hee),

I even did a search for "Damian" and "The Omen," and turned up lots of hits, but of course I forgot to do a search using Damien. I should've just search for "The Omen."

Arnold, Eugene, Ethel, and Myrtle

Frances:
No, the German short form of grandmother ("Grossmutter" in German) is "Oma", not "Emma". (Grandfather / Grossvater is "Opa"). But there is something called Tante-Emma-Laden = Aunt Emma Shop. That is a small old-fashioned corner shop managed by a family or single person, as opposed to big chain-owned super marked.

Damian:
Damian:
I am not very well versed in the royal genealogies of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, but I knew some king had been called Edmund and that Emma was the wife of king Canute.

I suppose most Anglo-Saxon first names only survive via royal genealogies, because after 1066 all layers of the English population gradually adopted Norman, French, Hebrew, Latin, Greek and Celtic names.
For example the name Canute totally disappeared, although it still is rather popular in Scandinavia in the form "Knut" or "Knud".

Talking about king Alfred (lovely name, but today most people in Norway mostly connect it with Mr. Greengrass´dog in "Heartbeat"!)...have you heard of Alfred´s contemporary St. Swithin from Winchester? He is the patron saint of Stavanger, my mother´s home town, in the form "St. Svithun". But his Anglo-Saxon name never became popular here in Norway, although a religious feast, Syftesok, was named after him.

And by the way: How did the name Jacob evolve into something as strange as James???

How did the name James ever evolve from something as strange as Jacob?

i love the name emily it's so sexy!

Deborah:
Jacob is the original. Maybe it happened via Spanish or Catalan, I have heard that several Aragon kings were called Jaime.

Ok, Wikipedia told me that James came from Norman "Gemmes", a variety of Jacques.

FREDRIK:

Bearing in mind the title of this thread, I'm sure my name is not THAT much of a 'favourite' that you have to say it twice!! :-) I thought that only applies to 'favourite' cities..such as New York, New York.

Yeah, some of those early Middle Ages names have survived down the centuries but I'm really glad I was never called Arthur..or Alfred...or Jacob! Somehow, Edmund sounds quite cool...sometimes spelt Edmond. The short name Ed is nice too but that could be for Edward as well. Alf or Bert sound really old fashioned names.

Canute (sometimes called Cnut here......perhaps the Anglicised version of Knut (or Knud?).....was certainly versatile...King of England, Denmark AND Norway...not all at the same time though.

It's amazing how your country, Norway, has had such strong links with this one. He was a good and effective King throughout, and sought peace whenever there was turmoil, but it's a complete myth that he sat on a seashore thinking he could halt the advancing tidal flow purely by means of his mental powers.

You watch 'Heartbeat'? It's good isn't it. It seems so quaint now by today's standards..set in the 1960's I think. Even in the wilds of North Yorkshire 21st century Police procedures are totally different and move at a much faster pace now.....'Heartbeat' just looks so quaint! I never knew Greengrass' dog was called Alfred. There is a new series now, running Sunday nights here, with new coppers...but cute barmaid Gina is still pulling the pints at the Aidensfield Arms.

St Swithin....one time Bishop of Winchester...(he died in the year 862).....everybody's heard of him if only because of the legend. St Swithin's Day is 15 July and it's said that if it rains on St Swithin's Day then it will rain on each of the next 40 days. It all originated from the time when his exhumed body was removed in 971 for burial on 15 July that year in a newly rebuilt Cathedral at Winchester (the same on in place today) but the whole thing was delayed by violent thunderstorms and torrential rains. It seemed some sort of omen and the legend has since come down through the centuries, and even today people in the UK look at the wather each 15 July..just out of interest, of course. There has never been in foundation in fact to the whole thing...impossible anyway in a country like the UK where the climate is so changeable, in one single day let alone the next day...or the next 40!

FREDRIK:

Just meant to say this.....there is an election campaign here at the moment an yesterday I saw a news report from the Shetland Islands..concentrating on election issues up there. They mentioned the fact that the islands are so far removed from the seat of Government power here at Westminster, London. One local guy said that they are actually much closer physically to the seat of the Norwegian Government in Oslo! For some reason the word 'Vikings' entered my mind at that moment.

'James' comes from Latin 'Jacobus' via Late Latin 'Jacomus' or 'Jacmus'. This name has given the world a plethora of different forms.

Spanish: Jaime, Jacóme, Iago, Jaco, Jago, Diego, Santiago
Portuguese: Jaime, Tiago, Diogo
French: Jacques, Jacquème, Jame, Gemmes
Italian: Giacomo, Giacomi, Giamo, Iacomi, Iacomo, Comi, Como, Cumo, Iago
Catalan: Jaume
Occitan/Provencal: Jacme, Jamme, Jammes, Jaulmes, Jaume
Irish: Seamus, Séamas, Shamus
Russian: Yakov, Yaakov (which is also the original Hebrew form)

...and many more!

Damian:
Although I am a great admirer of your knowledge, the double mentioning of your name was just a mistake, and not a Pacific Island Tula-Tula so-nice-they-named-it-twice thing. I had barely heard your name before i started posting on this forum, so for me it has all the charm of novelty. (Though I have to admit that in my head I connect it with the Daim chocolate!!!)

Arthur sounds a bit old-fashioned to me too, but Alfred sounds just cute (maybe because of the dog!) I think the name Alfred has been somewhat avoided in Norway the last 50 years because of its resemblance to Adolf....
(The funny thing is that Adolf has always been a very popular and royal name in Sweden....Gustav Adolf etc.)
Back to Alfred: "Alf" is actually a an old Norse name in its own right, many middle age Norwegian men are called Alf/Alv, although "alv" means "fairy" in Norwegian!

Edmund was actually Jetmund in old Norse (you still find a few men called that in Norway). Anglo-Saxon æ in the beginning of a word became je/ja in Norse, e.g. earl - jarl.

Albert sounds really stiff and Victorian to me, I am glad I was not called that. What do people think of the name Frederick in Britain? 18th century immoral upper-class debauched young lord, e.g. prince Frederick of Wales?

About king Canute: I think he wanted to prove to his shamelessly flattering courtiers that even he, king of three kingdoms, could not stop the tide. In Norway he is seen as rather evil, because he snatched the kingdom from St. Olav, Norway´s patron saint, rex eternae norvegicae.