Timeless Edmund, borne by saints and kings,
is a name that gives a universal feeling of confidence and assuredness.
Origin: |
Edmund is an Anglo-Saxon name, originally spelt, Eadmund, which was combination of éad "wealth, prosperity, happiness, felicity" and mund "protection, guardian, hand." |
Usage: |
Examples of Edmund are littered among early royalty. King Edmund of East Anglia (d.869), known as Edmund the Martyr, was martyred by the Danes and later considered a saint. King Edmund I of England "Edmund the Magnificent "(c.922-946) and King Edmund II of England "Edmund Ironside," known for his valour in fending off the Danes, were also worthy namesakes. Edmund is one of the few Anglo-Saxon names which survived the Norman Conquest and continued to flourish when other stalwarts like Albert declined for centuries. Both saints were paid particular devotion by Henry III in the mid-13th century and he named two of his sons Edward and Edmund, ensuring the names continued among British royalty and nobility even at a time when many Anglo-Saxon names had died out of use. Though it was never again used as the name of a reigning monarch, Edmund continued to be borne by medieval princes and English, Welsh and Scottish nobles, almost to the point of confusion given the royal family's complicated intermarried family trees. In the 14th century, Edmund was the only name of Anglo-Saxon origin among the top 30 names. Redmond's survey of 10 counties from 1377-81 puts Edmund at #23, ranking alongside Laurence, James and Alan. Similar Edward had less than half the number of examples and ranked #33. Curiously, Edmund continued within the top 30 right up to the 19th century. It never reached the heights of extreme popularity within the top 10 (unlike Edward which had a revival in the 16th century) but it was extremely enduring, as can be seen by Smith Bannister's frequency tables from 1538-1700: During this period, and even before, Edmund was often confused with Edward, with men being listed sometimes as "Edward alias Edmund." This was thanks to the habit of abbreviating both names as "Ed" in church records and the common use of the diminutive Ned/Neddy for both names. Edmund's popularity continued with steady force. Leslie Dunkling puts Edmund at #16 in 1700 and #23 in 1800 in England and Wales. It was still a stalwart classic in the Victorian era, though it did decline in rankings as the century came to a close. According to the 1851 Glamorgan census, Edmund was the 27th most common name for males, and 25th most common for men over 50. Data from the 1881 census puts Edmund as the 122nd most common name (male and female combined) and Edmond as the 336th. The map (right) shows the distribution of the names Edmund and Edmond across Britain. The highest numbers are starkly centralised in the counties with the largest population sizes: Lancashire, Yorkshire, Middlesex and Surrey. When looking at distribution per 100,000 however, a more even picture is presented. Here Edmund/Edmond is concentrated most in Wales and Southern and Middle England. It was evenly distributed across Scotland also, though was much less popular. In terms of actual rankings, Edmund gradually declined over the 19th and early 20th century, leaving the top 100 after 1924: 1870: #38 Edmund was very rare in use by the 1970s, but did start to pick up again by the 1990s.
In Scotland, Edmund has had much rarer usage. Since 2005, it has only ranked in 2006 (1 birth), 2008 (1 birth), 2010 (3 births: #614) and 2012 (1 birth). In 2013, Edmund ranked #837 (36 births) in England and Wales, and #1214 (1 birth) in Scotland. |
Famous Bearers: |
History: * Eadmund of Winchester (d. c. 833), Bishop of Winchester. Literature and Other Media: * Edmund, a character in Shakespeare's King Lear. |
Variants: |
Edmond, Edmé (French), Éamonn, Eamon, Éamon (Irish, Scottish), Edmondo (Italian), Edmundo (Spanish, Portuguese), Ödön, Ödi (Hungarian) |
Pronunciation: |
ED-mənd [key] |
Possible diminutives: |
Ed, Eddie, Ned, Neddy, Ted, Teddy |
Sibling Names: |
Phoebe Louisa Cordelia Arabella Florence Cecily |
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Thanks to Gemma for requesting this post.