Name of the Week: Archie

 

 

Origin:

Archie started out as a short form of Archibald but has been used as an independent name since the 19th century.  Archibald is a later English form of both the Old English Eorconbeald and its Old Germanic counterpart Erchanbald deriving from eorcnan / erchan "precious, genuine, noble, true, sublime, chief, special" and beald / bald "bold, brave." The Old English eorcnan is most commonly found in the Anglo-Saxon word eorcnanstán, which we would translate today as "precious stone," giving us a feel of eorcnan's meaning.  It has been suggested that Ercanbald developed into the spelling Archibald due to association with Greek names beginning with Arch- (e.g. Archelaos, Archimedes etc)*, however, the name was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 in both the spellings Erchenbaldus and Archenbaldus/Arcebaldus. Later spellings included Erchebaud alongside the likes of Archebald, which suggests the E and A were simple interchanged due to their similar sound.

Usage:

Eorconbeald was in use in England among the Anglo-Saxons* though examples are not prolific. The Germanic Erchanbald was brought over by the Normans where it replaced, or most likely merged with, Eorconbeald.  The name was quite uncommon, but at least was used enough to create the surname forms Archibald, Archibold, Archibould, Archbald, Archbold, Archbell, Archbutt, Archanbault and Archambault from the 12th century, including Robert Archebold in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire in 1210 and William Ercmebaud, a witness in the  Fine Court Rolls of Suffolk in 1239.  The name was more prolific in Scotland in the Middle Ages.* The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources describes it as "a common name amongst the earls and dukes of Douglas, Moray, Argyll, and Angus."*  This is likely due to Archibald's being used as a translation of the Gaelic name Giolla Easpuig (Gillespie) in Scotland which means "servant (giolla) of the bishop (easpuig)". E.G. Withycombe attributes this to a mistaken idea that the -bald in Archibald referred to being "bald" i.e hairless (or tonsured) and therefore referred to a member of the clergy.*   Archibald remained in good use in Scotland -- so much so that the short form, Archie, even developed its own Gaelic form: Eàirsidh (ER-tchee). Scotland also used feminine forms Archina, Archibaldina, Archibella and Archibina.  There are no official statistics for the popularity of names in Scotland in the 20th century, but we can see from the sheer number of births that Archibald was common. As a comparison, in 1860, 157 boys were named Archibald in England and Wales (ranking #94), whereas in Scotland (where the population size was much smaller) the number was 693.  Data from The Surname Atlas (click to enlarge) Data from the 1881 census shows how -- when we filter for usage per 100,000 people in every county -- both Archibald (25,445 persons) and Archie (1193 persons) were overwhelmingly most popular in Scotland, especially in Argyll.  Archibald was #14 in 1900 in Scotland and was still #40 by 1950, gradually declining in use afterwards.  Archibald also grew in popularity in England throughout the 19th century, when medieval-style names were vogue, as did Archie on its own a little later.    Archibald Archie 1850: 1860: 1870: 1880: 1890: 1900: 1904: 1914: #114 #94 #69 #53 #42 #56 #60 #88 [0 births] [3 births] #220 #161 #123 #117 N/A N/A By 1924, Archibald was out of the top 100 in England and Wales and has not returned since. It has, however, seen a rise in the last decade. Archie began to rise in the late 1990s. In 1996, it ranked #192 (169 births) and rose to #120 (373 births) in 1998 and broke into the top 100 at #81 (643 births) in 2000.  From then, it swiftly marched up the top 100, peaking at #16 (3265 births) in 2013. During this rise, Archie was bolstered in the media by main character Archie MacDonald in Series 1-5 (Feb 2000-Nov 2003) of BBC drama Monarch of the Glen and the character Archie in the children's TV programme Balamory (2002-2005).  While this no doubt helped Archie's rise, it is important to note that it was rising before this. Notably, Archie ranked in the top 50 birth announcements in The Times in 1994 while it was below the top 200 nationally. The likes of Florence, Olivia, Francesca, Oscar, Rory and Toby, too, were all popular in The Times long before they charted nationally, so there is precedent for this “filtering down” trend setting. As we can see, Archibald was slightly more common than Archie in Scotland in the 1970s and 1980s, but the two became evenly used in the 1990s. By the turn of the century, Archie pulled forward as the more popular choice, breaking into the top 100 in 2004 and rising quickly afterwards. Archibald, however, has fluctuated in use year on year.  In 2017, Archie ranked #15 in Wales, #19 in England (#18 in E&W combined), #19 in Scotland and#32 in Northern Ireland.

Famous Bearers:

Royalty: * Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor (born 2019), son of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. History: * Archibald "Archie" Campbell MacLaren (1871–1944), British cricketer who captained the England cricket team. * Archibald "Archie" Leach (1904-1986), birth name of English-born Hollywood actor Cary Grant. * Archie Moore (1916–1998), American world champion boxer, born Archibald Lee Wright. Contemporary: * Archibald "Archie" Macpherson (born 1937), Scottish sports broadcaster. * Archie Shepp (born 1937), American jazz saxophonist. * Archibald "Archie" Thompson (born 1978), Australian footballer. * Archie Bradley (born 1992), American baseball player.  Literature and Other Media: * Archie MacDonald, character in BBC drama Monarch of the Glen. * Archibald "Archie" Andrews, main character in the Archie Comics (1942-2015) and TV show Riverdale. * Archie, a character in the CBeebies TV show Balamory. * Archie Mitchell, in the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2008-2010).

Variants:

Archibald

Pronunciation:

AR-chee [key]

Possible Longer Forms:

Archibald, Archer, Archelaus, Aristarchus, Charles, Richard, Issachar

Sibling Names:

Poppy     Ava     Grace     Scarlett     Daisy     Evie  Rory     Teddy     Freddie     Harry     Max     Finley

Name Lists:

Lively Lads    Guys and Dolls

 

If you like Archie you may also like:   Alfie, Charlie, Arthur, Theo, Reggie, Harvey, Dexter, Bobby, Lenny, Frankie

Thanks to Leona for requesting this name.