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Erlechin
Male
CPL
4 of 5
Discussion of the name
The name spelled Erlechin in DB is a difficult one. It can hardly be, as von Feilitzen thought (1937: 248), a name with the Old Low German diminutive –kin, since such names were first adopted in England only in the twelfth century and in urban contexts in eastern England. Nor need the first element represent the Continental Germanic Erle–. In any case, a Continental origin for a very minor landowner in Cheshire is hardly likely. One possibility is that the first part of the name represents the OE word eorl ‘earl’ and the second the word cyng, spelled chin and dropping the final –g. .Bibliography
von Feilitzen 1937: Olof von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksells, 1937)Forms of the name
Spellings in Domesday Book: ErlechinForms in modern scholarship:
von Feilitzen head forms: Erlekin
Phillimore edition: Erlechin
Alecto edition: Erlekin