Atilic

Male
CPL
4 of 5

Discussion of the name

Atilic is a difficult name. The form is unique to DB, and it would be easy to follow von Feilitzen (1937: 169) in writing it off as ‘obscure’. It may, however, be the same name as Athelice (dative), wife of Adam of Cockfield in a Bury St Edmunds charter issued late in the abbacy of Anselm (1121–48) (Douglas 1932: no. 129). Her name was probably formed from the popular first element Æthel– (OE æðel ‘noble, famous’) and the diminutive suffix –ic; it thus bears comparison with a small group of names which also combine a common first element with –ic, the most obvious examples being Leofic and Edic (Redin 1919: 149–52). The medial –i– in the Domesday name is a stumbling block for that interpretation, since nowhere else in DB is the element Æthel– written as Atil– (von Feilitzen 1937: 182). A similar name, Ællic, is on record in both 1066 and 1086 (Ællic). For all those parallels, the name Atilic remains unresolved.

Bibliography

von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)

Douglas 1932: Feudal Documents from the Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, ed. D. C. Douglas, British Academy Records of the Social and Economic History of England and Wales, 8 (London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1932)

Forms of the name

Spellings in Domesday Book: Atilic

Forms in modern scholarship:

von Feilitzen head forms: Atilic

Phillimore edition: Atilic

Alecto edition: Atilic

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Holder 1066

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Worcestershire 26,12 Cooksey Atilic Atilic 'of Cooksey' - Urse d'Abetot William 'the man of Urse d'Abetot' 1.00 1.13 0.68 A Map
Totals