Æthelheard

Male
DWP
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Discussion of the name

Æthelheard is an Old English masculine name comprising the elements æðele ‘noble, famous’ and heard ‘hard, strong, bold’ (von Feilitzen 1937: 184).

There are around two dozen entries for Æthelheard in the PASE corpus, of which Æthelheard 1-22 (with two entries under Æthelheard 1) and Æthelheard 24 all pre-date c.860.  The four instances of the name occurring in the Durham Liber Vitae are also from ninth-century contexts (Insley et al. 2007: 86).  The only later but pre-Conquest instance of the name is Æthelheard 23, who witnessed a royal charter relating to Wells in 1068.  The impression given by these data, together with that from DB, is of a name that became less popular in the late Anglo-Saxon period than it had been in earlier centuries.

Bibliography

von Feilitzen 1937: O. von Feilitzen, The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of Domesday Book, Nomina Germanica 3 (Uppsala, 1937)

Insley et al. 2007: J. Insley and D. Rollason with P. McClure, ‘A.3 English dithematic names’, in ed. D. and L. Rollason, The Durham Liber Vitae: Volume II (London, 2007), 81-165

Forms of the name

Spelling in Domesday Book: Ailardus, Ælard, Airard

Forms in modern scholarship:

von Feilitzen head form: Æðelheard

Phillimore edition: Aethelhard

Alecto edition: Æthelheard, Airard

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
Devon 34,53 Bruckland Ailardus Æthelheard the monk 'of Bruckland' - Ralph de La Pommeraye Geoffrey 'the man of Ralph de La Pommeraye' 1.00 0.05 0.05 B Map
Sussex 11,8 Treyford Ælard Æthelheard 'of Treyford' Godwine, earl Roger, earl Robert fitzTheobald 9.00 4.25 4.25 B Map
Totals