Forthræd

Male
CPL
4 of 5

Discussion of the name

Forthræd is a masculine OE name formed from the elements forð (‘forwards’) and ræd (‘counsel, wisdom’). It was reasonably common among the upper classes until the later ninth century, borne by abbots (Forthræd 2–3), thegns (Forthræd 4–5), and one or more moneyers (Forthræd 6–9), besides two clerks and two monks commemorated in the Durham Liber Vitae (DLV: II, 118), but then disappears from the record until 1066, when it was the name of a single small landowner.

Bibliography

DLV: The Durham Liber Vitae. London, British Library, MS Cotton Domitian A.VII: Edition and Digital Facsimile with Introduction, Codicological, Prosopographical and Linguistic Commentary, and Indexes, ed. D. W. Rollason and L. Rollason, 3 vols. (London: British Library, 2007)

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: -

Spellings in Exon: Fordretus

Forms in modern scholarship:

  von Feilitzen head forms: Forðræd

  Phillimore edition: Forthred

  Alecto edition: -