Name of the Week: Hugo

 

Origin:

Hugo is the Latin form of Hugh, as well as the typical form in Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German and Scandinavian countries.  The name derives from the Old German hugu meaning "heart" as well as "mind," "spirit," "soul," and "thought." To the modern mind, these concepts are often regarded separately, but in ancient times, the heart was regarded as the seat of all mental facilities. This notion persisted through the Middle Ages and still exists figuratively today in the phrases "(to learn) by heart," "heart in the right place," and "heart set on." These ideals are embedded linguistically in our language, as the Oxford English Dictionary explains: "Semantic developments [of the word heart] that are widespread among other early Germanic languages include: courage; the heart as seat of life, of feeling, of thought, or of the will; centre; inner part; most important part. (Use denoting the heart as perceived seat of thought, intelligence, will, emotion, or character is also frequent in classical Latin and post-classical Latin, and this may have influenced use in various Germanic languages.)"* The element hugu is not only found as a proper name itself, but also as the prototheme in compound names such as Hugibert (Hubert), Hugibald (Hubald) and Hugihard (Howard) which helps us understand how prolific it was.

Usage:

The name Hugo (also found as Chugo, Ugo, Ogo, Hucco, Hucho etc) is recorded at the beginning of the 8th century in Frankish documents. The name is found in the court of Charlemagne* and was used by Frankish nobility, most notably Hugh the Great (898–956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris. His name would have been recorded as Hugo, but, as the convention is for historical figures of the continental Middle Ages to given the name in its modern English spelling, we often find such men referred to as Hugh, as in Hugh Capet (941–996), first King of the Franks of the House of Capet; Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025) and St Hugh of Cluny (1024–1109).  The Normans brought the name over in the Old French forms Hue, Huon, Hugues and Hugon, and the diminutive form Huchon, though the German form Hugo was adopted as the third declension nominative form into Middle Latin (Hugonis in the genitive etc) so it is this form that appears in records. Hugo/Hugh was also used to render the Gaelic name Aed/Aodh and Eoghan into Latin and English in medieval Scottish records.  The name is frequent in the Domesday Book* of 1086 thanks to this Norman influence. From this point, Hugh was the vernacular form of the name — sometimes Hew in the North and How in the South — and the form Huchon appears in Scotland in the 14th-16th century.  The pet-form Hud(de) was very common in use* and gained the diminutives Huddel and Huddlin. (This is also the source of the surname Hudson). Other pet-forms included Hul and diminutives Huchon (Hutchin), Huwlin, Huwett and Huwott. According to the Reaney and Wilson*, 14 variations of Hugh survive as modern surnames which attest to its popularity. Added to this are the numerous diminutives endings, including el, et, ot, in, on, kin (often in combination) of which there are at least 90 different modern forms.  In his survey of 1000 names from ten English counties 1377-81, George Redmonds ranks Hugh at #11, which he categorises as "Quite Popular". Furthermore, E.G.Withycombe* claims that, while the name was already common in the 12th century, it became more popular still in the following century thanks to the veneration of St Hugh (1135-1200), Bishop of Lincoln, especially in the north of England.  The 16th century saw continued regular use of the name Hugh which declined somewhat into the 17th century, as we can see from Smith Bannister's rank of top 50 names from 1538 to 1700 in England: 1538-49: --; 1550-9: #19; 1560-9: #17; 1570-9: #18; 1580-9: #21; 1590-9: #31; 1600-9: #26; 1610-9: #31; 1620-9: #31; 1630-9: #50; 1640-9: #31; 1650-9: #46; 1660-9: #44; 1670-9: #33; 1680-9: #39; 1690-1700: --. Hugo came into use as a given name in its own right in the 18th century, though it was rather uncommon. Throughout the 19th century, Hugo never cracked the top 200 in England and Wales. Hugh's usage, on the other hand, was well maintained through the 19th century and into first half of the 20th century, ranking in England and Wales as follows: 1860: #43 1870: #39 1880: #41 1890: #51 1900: #61 1904: #55 1914: #61 1924: #71 1934: #81 1944: #84 1954: #89 1964: *out of top 100* Until recently, Hugh has always been the dominant form of the name over Hugo. Among the upper class however, this isn't the case, and Hugo has long been in good use and has even been more popular than Hugh. It was #34 in The Times birth announcements in 1984 (Hugh=#52) and #19 in 1994 (Hugh=#33). This has remained consistent, as it was also #17 in The Telegraph birth announcements in 2004 (Hugh=#58) and #23 in 2014 (Hugh=#33).  Leslie Dunkling's sample for boys named Hugh and Hugo in every 10,000 births show that, while Hugh was declining in use, Hugo was extremely rare nationally until it began gaining in use in the 1980s, equaling with Hugh by 1990:   1900 1925 1935 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 Hugh   12   16   22    6    2    4    -   2   10    4   10    6 Hugo    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    -    2    2    6 click to enlarge This same picture can be seen from the official rankings for England and Wales as they both held a similar rank in 1996: Hugh was #220 (139 births) and Hugo #216 (144 births). From this point, Hugh stayed at much the same point in popularity, consistently ranking between #250-#400.  <Hugo, on the other hand, began to slowly and steadily rise to #177 (205 births) in 2002 and #149 (394 births) in 2010.  2011 was very much "The Year of Hugo" in Britain, The film Hugo staring Asa Butterfield in the title role of Hugo Cabret was released, and Made in Chelsea, starring Hugo Taylor, hit British television screens and became an overnight sensation, catapulting the figures to overnight stardom. It is no wonder, then, that in 2012, Hugo rocketed up from #139 (448 births) to #88 (724 births).  Hugo has continued to rise up the top 100 ever since. In Scotland, Hugo hasn't been as popular as in England and Wales, but it has seen a rise. From 1975 to 2004, Hugo was registered no more than 7 times in any given year. It rose to #253 (16 births) in 2009, and #198 (28 births) in 2012, rising since.  In 2015, Hugo ranked #55 (1153 births) in England and Wales, and #154 (37 births) in Scotland. Hugh, on the other hand, ranked #346 (133 births) in E&W and #359 (9 births) in Scotland.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Hugh (Hugo) the Great (898–956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris. * Hugh (Hugo) Capet (941–996), first King of the Franks of the House of Capet. * St Hugh of Cluny (1024–1109), Abbot of Cluny and one of the most influential leaders of the monastic orders from the Middle Ages. * Hugo of Ostia (died 1158), French religious leader. * Hugo de Lantins (fl. 1420–1430), French-Flemish composer. * Hugo van der Goes (1430-1482) Flemish painter. * Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), Dutch forefather of international law theory. * Hugo Alfvén (1872–1960), Swedish composer, conductor, violinist, and painter. * Admiral Sir Hugo Moresby White (1939–2014), senior officer of the Royal Navy and Governor of Gibraltar. Contemporary: * Hugo Weaving (born 1960), Australian actor * Hugo Rodallega (born 1985), Colombian footballer. * Hugo Taylor (born 1986), British TV personality. Literature and Other Media: * Hugo Granger-Weasley, the son of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling * Hugo Cabret, protagonist of The Invention of Hugo Cabret and film adaptation Hugo (2011).  * Hugo Danner, the protagonist of Philip Wylie's 1930 novel Gladiator. Other: * 2106 Hugo, an asteroid named after French writer Victor Hugo. * Hugo, a crater on the planet Mercury. * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback

Variants:

Hugh (English), Ugo (Italian), Huw (Welsh) Hugues (French)

Pronunciation:

HYOO-gō [key]

Possible diminutives:

Hugh, Hughie, Hud, Hutch

Sibling Names:

Ivy     Eloise     Cora     Margot     Clara     Bonnie  Rex     Miles     Felix     Jasper     Rufus     Angus

Name Lists:

Ripe Renovations

 

If you like Hugo you may also like:   Ralph, Otto, Milo, Theodore, Otis, Ivo, Wilfred, Oscar, Harvey, Rupert

Thanks to Laura for requesting Hugo.