Submitted Name Revision History

Germanic name, in which the second element is #win# meaning "friend". The first element, #ag#, is of uncertain origin, though the accepted explanation is that it comes from Proto-Germanic #*agjo# "sharp, pointed". Because of that, it also means "edge", as in the sharp cutting side of a sword - which is why the meaning of the element has ultimately come to be "sword". See also Anglo-Saxon #ecg# (in e.g. EGBERT) or Old High German #ekka# (New High German #ecke# "corner"; see EKKEHARD). Other possibilities for the meaning and origin of #ag# include: Gothic #agan# "to fear, to be afraid", Old Norse #agi# "unrest, agitation", Gothic #ahjan# "to believe" and Old Norse #aka# "to do, to act".