Name of the Week

 

From the ancient Gothic to modern vampire slayer.
Part Alistair, part Eric.

 

Origin:

Alaric is the anglicised form of Alaricus, itself a Latinised form of the Gothic Alareiks.  Alareiks is composed of two elements: ala "all, entire, everyone" and reiks "ruler, chief, mightly." Many take this to mean "ruler of all."

Usage:

Alaric I (c.370–410) was the great Visigoth king, famous for leading and instigating the sack of Rome in 410, which was a considerable factor in the fall of the Roman Empire. His namesake, Alaric II (484–507) is most famous for issuing the Brevity of Alaric, a Visigothic code of Roman law for his Roman subjects in Spain and Gaul.  Though the name was never especially common, it did permeate through European culture. The Norse cognate Alrekr or Alríkr, for example, appears in Norse folk lore as the name of a legendary king of Sweden.  By the 14th century, however, any use of Alaric as a given name had all but died out throughout most of Europe. In some cases, perhaps, this was due to confusion with more common Germanic names such as Aldric or Adalric, which are known to have later became rendered as Alric(h). Alaric survived somewhat in Finland and Sweden in the form Alarik or Alarik, and even has it's own Name Day on May 24th. In Britain, Alaric's revival came — as with other early medieval or classical names — in the 19th century, as birth records in England anad Wales for each decade demonstrate:   1840s: 6  1850s: 4 1860s: 5 1870s: 14 1880s: 21 1890s: 28 1900s: 27 1910s: 13 1920s: 17 1930s: 18 1940s: 21 1950s: 35 1960s: 42 1970s: 46 1980s: 27 1990s: 20 Since 1996, Alaric has ranked ten times in England and Wales (1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012) with a birth count of between 3 and 5. In 2012, Alaric ranked #3987 with 4 births.

Famous Bearers:

History:  * Alaric I (c.370–410), king of the Visigoths who led the sack of Rome in 410. * Alaric II (484–507), king of the Visigoths. * Alaric Alexander Watts (1797–1864), a British poet and journalist. * Alaric B. Chapin (1848–1924), Union Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for gallantry in the American Civil War. Literature and Media: * Alaric Saltzman, Vampire hunter and history teacher at Mystic Falls High School in The Vampire Diaries. * Alaric Tudor, principle character in Anthony Trollope's novel The Three Clerks. * Alaric, Duke of Dunstable, a character in P. G. Wodehouse's Blandings Castle novels. * Alaric Darconville, the title character of Alexander Theroux's novel Darconville's Cat. * Alaric Morgan, the seventh Duke of Corwyn in Katherine Kurtz' Deryni novels.  * Aleric, title character in Fred Wiehe's novel Aleric: Monster Hunter. Other: * HMS Alaric, a submarine of the British Royal Navy.

Variants:

Alarik, Alrik (Scandinavian), Alarico (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese), Alaricus (Latin), Alarich (German), Alar, Alari (Estonian)

Pronunciation:

AL-ə-rik [key]

Possible diminutives:

Al, Ali, Alec, Ari, Larry, Ric

Sibling Names:

Aveza     Saskia      Morven     Auda      Odette     Liesel  Bastian     Magnus     Franco     Macsen     Jago     Rocco

Name Lists:

N/A

 

If you like Alaric you may also like:   Theodric, Falco, Ulrik, Aldo, Faramund, Otto, Atticus, Merrick, Tancred, Wolfram

 

Thanks to Nancy for requesting this post.