How popular is the baby name Hiltrude in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Hiltrude.

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Popularity of the baby name Hiltrude


Posts that mention the name Hiltrude

Names with “True” as a nickname

names with the nickname True

Let’s say you like the idea of the name True…but you’d prefer that it be a nickname as opposed to a legal name.

Which names out there can be shortened to the nickname “True”?

Let’s start with the most popular options. Each of these saw enough usage last year to be included in the 2018 baby name data, though none of them were common enough to make the top 1,000:

  • Truman comes from an English surname that was originally a nickname for a trustworthy man (trewe means “faithful, trustworthy” in Middle English).
  • Truett & Truitt are also English surnames. They were derived from the place name Trewhitt, which is thought to be made up of the Old Norse word tyri, “resinous pine-wood,” and the Old English word wiht, “river bend.”
  • Gertrude can be traced back to the Germanic words ger, “spear,” and trut, “beloved, dear” — though some sources say the second element is thrud, meaning “strength.” Variant forms include Gertrud and Gertrudis.
  • Trudy & Trudie are diminutive forms of Gertrude or any other –trud(e) name, such as Ermintrude, Hiltrude, or Irmtrude.

The names below have been in the data historically, but none made the cut last year specifically. In fact, several are one-hit wonders.

EtruliaOrtrude*TrubyTrucilla
TrudaTrudellTrudenceTrudis*
TrudithTruelTrulaTruma
TrumaineTrunellTrunettaTrusha

Which of the –tru– names above do you like best?

*Just so happens that Ortrude and Trudis were both 1916 one-hit wonders inspired by literature.

The 20 children of Charlemagne

Charlemagne coin

The name Charlemagne — French for Carolus Magnus, or “Carl the strong” — debuted on the girls’ list last year, strangely.

Let’s celebrate this weirdness by checking out what the King of the Franks named his own kids.

Historians believe Charlemagne had about 20 children with various wives and concubines. His first child was born around 768 and his last came along in 807.

Here are the names of Charlemagne’s 11 daughters:

  • Adalhaid – based on the Germanic words adal meaning “noble” and heid meaning “sort, kind.”
  • Adaltrude – based on the Germanic words adal meaning “noble” and þruþ meaning “strength.”
  • Alpaida – ?
  • Amaudru – ?
  • Bertha – based on the Germanic word berht meaning “bright” or “famous.”
  • Gisela – based on the Germanic word gisil meaning “pledge.”
  • Hildegarde – based on the Germanic words hild meaning “battle” and gard meaning “enclosure.”
  • Hiltrude – based on the Germanic words hild meaning “battle” and þruþ meaning “strength.”
  • Rotrude, also written Hruodrud – based on the Germanic words hrod meaning “fame” and þruþ meaning “strength.”
  • Ruodhaid – based on the Germanic words hrod meaning “fame” and heid meaning “sort, kind.”
  • Theodrada – based on the Germanic words þeud meaning “people, race” and rat meaning “advice, counsel.”

And here are the names of Charlemagne’s 9 sons:

  • Carloman, later renamed Pepin/Pippin – the first based on the Germanic words karl meaning “free man” and man meaning “man,” the second of unknown origin, possibly based on the Germanic root bib-, meaning “to tremble.”
  • Charles – based on the Germanic word karl meaning “free man.”
  • Drogo – of unknown origin, possibly based on the Germanic word (gi)drog meaning “ghost,” the Germanic word tragen meaning “to carry,” or the Slavic word dorogo meaning “dear.”
  • Hugh – based on the Germanic word hug meaning “heart, mind, spirit.”
  • Lothair (twin) – based on the Germanic words hrod meaning “fame” and hari meaning “army.”
  • Louis (twin) – based on the Germanic words hrod meaning “fame” and wig meaning “war.”
  • Pippin – see Carloman.
  • Richbod – based on the Germanic words ric meaning “power, ruler” and bod meaning “ruler” or “messenger.”
  • Theodoric – based on the Germanic words þeud meaning “people, race” and ric meaning “power, ruler.”

Which of the above name(s) do you like best?

(And, does anyone know the etymology of either Alpaida or Amaudru? I’m stumped on those.)

Sources:

Image: Charlemagne denier Mayence 812-814