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ArchivesKing Anna and his name
There was a King of East Anglia in England who reigned between 636 and 654 named Anna. Here's the Wikipedia page about him:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_of_East_Anglia
So far I have not been able to find any knowledgeable discussion of the origin of King Anna's name. The closest is the reference lower down in the Wikipedia article to a speculation by a historian that his full name might have been Æthelmund, though even that historian says that Æthelmund could very well have been another person entirely.
Has anyone here run across any ideas from an expert on either Anglo-Saxon history or the Old English language on what the origin of Anna as a male name might be? King Anna's name often gets mentioned in discussions of people who have names which seem to be cross-gender to speakers of modern English, but without any indication as to where his name came from. It's of course possible this is just completely unknown, but I thought is was worthwhile to ask if anyone here has run across a speculation about it from a real expert.
The book "A Dictionary of English Place-Names" does say that the places Ancaster and Andoversford were named after men called Anna, which implies that the King may not have been the only example of Anna as a male name in Anglo-Saxon times, especially since neither place is in East Anglia (though Ancaster is in southern Lincolnshire fairly close to East Anglia.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_of_East_Anglia
So far I have not been able to find any knowledgeable discussion of the origin of King Anna's name. The closest is the reference lower down in the Wikipedia article to a speculation by a historian that his full name might have been Æthelmund, though even that historian says that Æthelmund could very well have been another person entirely.
Has anyone here run across any ideas from an expert on either Anglo-Saxon history or the Old English language on what the origin of Anna as a male name might be? King Anna's name often gets mentioned in discussions of people who have names which seem to be cross-gender to speakers of modern English, but without any indication as to where his name came from. It's of course possible this is just completely unknown, but I thought is was worthwhile to ask if anyone here has run across a speculation about it from a real expert.
The book "A Dictionary of English Place-Names" does say that the places Ancaster and Andoversford were named after men called Anna, which implies that the King may not have been the only example of Anna as a male name in Anglo-Saxon times, especially since neither place is in East Anglia (though Ancaster is in southern Lincolnshire fairly close to East Anglia.)
This message was edited 4/30/2021, 8:17 AM
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Replies
It’s worth noting that English place names record a large number of Anglo-Saxon male names ending in A, many following the same VCCV pattern or a CVCCV version. Some examples from a quick search:
Offa
Horsa
Daecca
Reada
Haesta
Banna
Dida
Totta
Waca
Tota
Billa
Cippa
Seen in this context, although we may not have a clear etymology for it, Anna looks completely unremarkable as a male name.
Offa
Horsa
Daecca
Reada
Haesta
Banna
Dida
Totta
Waca
Tota
Billa
Cippa
Seen in this context, although we may not have a clear etymology for it, Anna looks completely unremarkable as a male name.
This message was edited 5/1/2021, 12:30 AM
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(With the exemption of Horsa, who is an imaginary person) these apparent names ending in a are merely short forms (or pet forms, or hypocoristic forms). Modern examples would be Alfie, Eddy, Willy, and so on.
It is sometimes possible to establish the full name, if sufficient documentary evidence is available. Thus, to take just one example from the list, there was is a Bishop of Leicester who is called Totta in some manuscripts but Torhthelm in others, so it is clear (at least in his case) that Totta means Torhthelm. Hence Stubbs concluded “There can be no doubt that Totta is a familiar abbreviation of Torhthelm”. Anglo-Saxon personal names always consist of two whole words placed together: Torhthelm is torht (torch) + helm (as in helmet).
As for Anna, it is likely to be an abbreviation of Earnwulf. This is suggested by the fact that the list of moneyers for the reign of King Eadræd has both Anna and Arnulf, possibly the same man (the names of moneyers on Anglo-Saxon coins are extremely variable).
It is sometimes possible to establish the full name, if sufficient documentary evidence is available. Thus, to take just one example from the list, there was is a Bishop of Leicester who is called Totta in some manuscripts but Torhthelm in others, so it is clear (at least in his case) that Totta means Torhthelm. Hence Stubbs concluded “There can be no doubt that Totta is a familiar abbreviation of Torhthelm”. Anglo-Saxon personal names always consist of two whole words placed together: Torhthelm is torht (torch) + helm (as in helmet).
As for Anna, it is likely to be an abbreviation of Earnwulf. This is suggested by the fact that the list of moneyers for the reign of King Eadræd has both Anna and Arnulf, possibly the same man (the names of moneyers on Anglo-Saxon coins are extremely variable).
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PASE lists 7 people by this name, including the king: http://www.pase.ac.uk/jsp/pdb?dosp=VIEW_RECORDS&st=PERSON_NAME&value=10527&level=1&lbl=Anna
Foerstermann lists Anna as a continental Germanic name, noting an Anglo-Saxon form Anna as well. He does this in the section for the prototheme An- which he speculates is from Old High German *ano* "ancestor" and/or *an* "favour, grace". This is on page 99 of my edition.
(There's also Old English *an* meaning "one", but I'm not sure it was used as a name element.)
Presumably Anna would be a short form/diminutive for a longer dithematic name with the first element being An-. The ending -a is an Old English diminutive suffix.
Foerstermann lists Anna as a continental Germanic name, noting an Anglo-Saxon form Anna as well. He does this in the section for the prototheme An- which he speculates is from Old High German *ano* "ancestor" and/or *an* "favour, grace". This is on page 99 of my edition.
(There's also Old English *an* meaning "one", but I'm not sure it was used as a name element.)
Presumably Anna would be a short form/diminutive for a longer dithematic name with the first element being An-. The ending -a is an Old English diminutive suffix.
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Thanks so much for this information!
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Since Old English is quite closely related to Old Frisian, we should also take into account the possibility that the king's name is etymologically related to the masculine Frisian given name Anne:
https://www.behindthename.com/name/anne-2 (I was unable to link to this specific entry in the usual way on BtN)
Also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Frisian_languages (in English)
https://www.behindthename.com/name/anne-2 (I was unable to link to this specific entry in the usual way on BtN)
Also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Frisian_languages (in English)
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that corresponds to the moneyers names (Anna/Arnulf) listed by Hovite, and parallels another OE name (which for the moment slips my mind) which matches a Frisian pet form of a dithematic name.
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Indeed it does! :) By the way, a variant of the Frisian name Anne is Anno, which resembles the Anglo-Saxon king's name more closely:
• see page 17 of Friesche Naamlijst (Onomasticon Frisicum) (1898) written by Johan Winkler: http://images.tresoar.nl/wumkes/pdf/WinklerJ_FriescheNaamlijst.pdf (in Dutch; it might take a while to load, as the file size is 26 MB)
Anno was also used in medieval German as a diminutive or short form of Arnold (though other Arn- names should also be possible; also compare Arno in the main database). So, the name is not exclusively Frisian:
• https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Anno (in English)
• https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_(Vorname) (in German)
Anno was the name of several medieval German bishops, the earliest of which was bishop Anno I of Cologne (died around 715 AD):
• https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_I. (in German)
• see page 17 of Friesche Naamlijst (Onomasticon Frisicum) (1898) written by Johan Winkler: http://images.tresoar.nl/wumkes/pdf/WinklerJ_FriescheNaamlijst.pdf (in Dutch; it might take a while to load, as the file size is 26 MB)
Anno was also used in medieval German as a diminutive or short form of Arnold (though other Arn- names should also be possible; also compare Arno in the main database). So, the name is not exclusively Frisian:
• https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Anno (in English)
• https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_(Vorname) (in German)
Anno was the name of several medieval German bishops, the earliest of which was bishop Anno I of Cologne (died around 715 AD):
• https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anno_I. (in German)
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