I recently skimmed through a 19th-century book about personal names “either in every-day use or lingering in the literature of Great Britain and Ireland.”
I found a lot of fascinating names, but the one that made me the most curious was Hengist.
The entry said, in part:
Found as a male name at the present day. From [Anglo Saxon] hengest, which Lye renders ‘cantherius, caballus,’ i. e. gelding, horse.
Other sources define the name as “stallion.”
According to English historian/theologian Bede, Hengist and his brother, Horsa, were the leaders of the first Anglo-Saxon settlers in Britain during the 5th century. (Today, the brothers are considered legendary figures.)
Interestingly, both of their names essentially mean the same thing: “horse.”
Looking through old vital records for England (from the 1800s and 1900s), I do indeed see about a dozen people with the first name Hengist, and about a dozen more named Horsa.
One baby was given both names: Hengist Horsa Terry, born in West Ham in 1908. (Sadly, he died the following year.)
Another Hengist was (very fittingly) born into the Horsey family of Windsor in 1864. (He lived until the late 1940s.)
Sources:
- Charnock, Richard Stephen. Prænomina; or, The Etymology of the Principal Christian Names of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Trubner & Co., 1882.
- Hengist and Horsa | Anglo-Saxon leader | Britannica
- Family Search
