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HelpWhat would English name look like without Christianity?
Being a Christian myself (and also because English isn't my mother language), reading about the "since Reformation" or "from Puritans" or "several saints" things make me wonder about what would people's names be if all of the above influences disappeared? Another reason of asking this question is when I am reading about sci Fi I often feel that it is a bit weird to have a Paul or David around a bunch of nicely crafted and unique names. Or at least having an elf called Isaiah make me feel awkward. Maybe I'm too conscious about it and there would still be a bunch of Peter and Mary around, but I really want to see how you guys think.
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Well, the cultures that brought Christianity also brought languages, so you could probably count out any Latin or French names as well as Biblical names. You'd be looking primarily at the Anglo-Saxon names, which often reference pre-Christian deities.
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Oooo, fun. I did a little looking.
These names come from Anglo-Saxon, so you might see them or names like them:
Alfred Alvin Albert Chad Kenelm, Athelstan, Ethelred, Adelmar, Dunstan, Edgar, Edmund, Edward, Edwin, Levin, Oswald, Oswin, Sigbert, Esmund, Egbert, Godric, Godwin, Harold, Roger, Rudolf, Waldemar, Swithin, Wystan
Ebba, Elfleda, Elfreda, Audrey, Edith, Aldith, Everild, Frideswide, Godiva, Hilda, Milburga, Mildred, Sunniva, Wulfrun
And a few from Medieval French:
Otto Geoffrey Joss
Alice (and therefore Alyssa, Alicia, and Alison) Amy Odetta Odilia Joyse Melisende
These names come from Anglo-Saxon, so you might see them or names like them:
Alfred Alvin Albert Chad Kenelm, Athelstan, Ethelred, Adelmar, Dunstan, Edgar, Edmund, Edward, Edwin, Levin, Oswald, Oswin, Sigbert, Esmund, Egbert, Godric, Godwin, Harold, Roger, Rudolf, Waldemar, Swithin, Wystan
Ebba, Elfleda, Elfreda, Audrey, Edith, Aldith, Everild, Frideswide, Godiva, Hilda, Milburga, Mildred, Sunniva, Wulfrun
And a few from Medieval French:
Otto Geoffrey Joss
Alice (and therefore Alyssa, Alicia, and Alison) Amy Odetta Odilia Joyse Melisende
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But maybe you're thinking more of what names wouldn't be as common. I think that's a trickier question. Names that I think of as Christian may have origins in Hebrew, Greek, or Latin, and those influences may have spread to Europe and Britain even without Christianity.
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English naming culture without Christianity... you have the choice of where that absence came from. Was it because Rome's influence was not as expansive, or because Rome was not so Christian?
If it's the first one, fill it up with more English, German, and generally pagan-derived names; if it's the latter, fill it up with Roman names.
If it's the first one, fill it up with more English, German, and generally pagan-derived names; if it's the latter, fill it up with Roman names.
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At the top of the page, click on Names, then on Advanced Search. Click on Usage, and then on Old English and Old French. There are some biblical names, which are easily identified, but the rest are probably what we would be using now, in modernised and altered forms of course. I could see myself as AElfgifu ...
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