How popular is the baby name Theodoric 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 Theodoric.

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Popularity of the baby name Theodoric


Posts that mention the name Theodoric

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

Are UK babies named Derek anymore?

The BBC is in search of UK babies named Derek.

Alfie, Ruby, Archie, Jack, Evie, Florence, and Ava are all in fashion and conjure up nostalgic thoughts of working-class Britain between the wars.

But there are some names that seem immune to rehabilitation.

Derek is one of those names.

Derek, originally a short form of Theodoric, was brought to Britain during the Middle Ages by settlers from the Low Countries. Theodoric comes from a Germanic name meaning “ruler of the people.” (It’s not related to Theodore, despite the resemblance.)

The name Derek remained rare in Britain until the very end of the 1800s. Even as late as 1881, Great Britain only had 6 males named Derek and 15 named Derrick.

Yet in 1934 Derek was the 14th most popular baby name in England and Wales. In 1944 it had fallen to 27th in the list. In subsequent decades it fell from 37 to 43 before reaching 100 in 1974. It has not reappeared since.

In 2011, only 22 baby boys in England and Wales were named Derek. Even fewer were named Derrick (6) and Derick (3).

So far, the BBC has heard from just one UK parent — Lee Woollard of Luton, who welcomed a son named Derek in July. (Baby Derek is named after his great-grandfather Derrick.) Lee says:

We have had ‘interesting’ reactions to his name, some people like it while others look and say “are you serious?” or mistake it for Eric. The anaesthetist at our hospital said she had been working there 10 years and it’s the first one she had seen delivered.

If you know any other UK babies named Derek, forward this post (or the original article) to their parents!

Source: Redmonds, George. Christian Names in Local and Family History. Toronto: Dundurn, 2004.