Name of the Week: Wilfred

 

 

Origin:

Wilfred is the modern English form of the Anglo-Saxon name Wilfrið (often rendered as Wilfrith or Wilfrid).  The first element of the name either derives from the Old English noun willa "mind, determination, purpose; desire, wish, request; joy, delight," or the related verb willan "to will, to wish, to desire, to be willing, to be about, to determine by choice." The second element represents the Old English friþ, friðu "peace, truce, safety, sanctuary."

Usage:

Wilfrið was not uncommon in Anglo-Saxon England, and the Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England has several examples of Wilfrid and Wilfrith.  One of the most famous of these Anglo-Saxon Wilfrids was St Wilfrid of York (634-709), a monk and bishop of York who was one of the foremost men of his day, who brought about closer relations between the papacy and the Anglo-Saxon Church, and also introduced Benedictine Rule to monastic life. He was venerated immediately after his death in Northumberland and, even after the Norman Conquest, his cult was observed, with 48 churches dedicated to him and his relics distributed between 11 sites.  Another saint and bishop of York also named Wilfrid (d.745) followed, as well two notable bishops of Worcester.  Despite the survival of Saint Wilfrid's cult into the Middle Ages, the name Wilfrid was not so successful. As George Redmonds puts it in Christian Names in Local and Family History (p98):    "The cult [of St Wilfrid] was centred initially on Ripon and Hexham, where the crypts of his churches survive, but it spread to other parts of the country when both Canterbury and Worcester laid claim to his relics. Even so Wilfrid was rare in the Middle Ages, although Reaney and Wilson in English Surnames noted examples of it as a personal name in Durham in 1055 and as a by-name in Worcester in c.1280. Otherwise its early history is obscure and it is missing from the poll tax returns and the frequency lists of 1538-1700.   In fact there were adults named Wilfrid in Norfolk from 1430 and in Yorkshire from later in the century. The most notable of these was Wilfrid Holme of Huntington near York, the Protestant poet who wrote The Fall and Evill Success of Rebellion in 1537, a significant but little-known politico-religious poem. His family were important local landowners and had gentry status and that probably accounts for the success Wilfrid has among their neighbours in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century. [...] It was also in regular use around Ripon and Leeds, and survived there through the eighteenth century."  So, Wilfrid was rare in use and didn't survive much after the Middle Ages except for in Yorkshire and Northumberland in the North and in pockets such as in Norfolk.  That all changed with the publication of Sir Walter Scott's famous and influential medieval historical novel Ivanhoe in 1820 in which the hero is the Saxon protagonist, Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe.  Not only did this boost the name Wilfred back into prominence, it also established Wilfred (with the -e) as the dominant spelling, helped no doubt by Frederick and Alfred which were both in the top 15 in England and Wales by 1850.  Wilfred and Wilfrid's rise can be seen in the birth rankings in England and Wales:   Wilfred Wilfrid 1850:  1860:  1870:  1880:  1890: 1900:  1904:  1914:  1924: 1934:  #153 #120 #76 #54 #43 #34 #31 #35 #55 #89 <#300 #279 #213 #77 #47 #78 <#100 <#100 <#100 <#100 Influential war poet Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was born during Wilfred's hey day, and the name held on in the top 100 up until 1944 in England and Wales.  In Scotland, Wilfred was less popular, only reaching #91 in 1900 and declining afterwards. From 1974 to 2017, Wilfred has only been registered fifteen years out of the total forty-four years (11 have been since 2005) and it has has no more than 5 births in any given year. In 2017, Wilfred ranked #602 with 4 births in Scotland.  In England and Wales, however, Wilfred has seen a marked increase over the last two decades.  In 1996, Wilfred ranked at #976 with 14 births. It has been gradually rising since and reached the top 500 by 2003, when it ranked #473 (51 births), and the top 200 in 2015 when it reached #184 (310 births). In 2016, Wilfred ranked #183 with 306 births. It is also interesting to see the regional statistics for Wilfred in 2016, as it highlights how it most common in the South of England and still has strong-hold in Yorkshire: N. East N. West Yorkshire E. Midlands W. Midlands East London S. East S. West Wales --  #374  #163  #214  #427  #160  #159  #143  #112  #312 The name didn't rank at all in the North East top 500 (where more than 2 births are required to rank), but Wilf alone did rank at #412 with 3 births in the North East.  The spelling Wilfrid remains uncommon, peaking at #1902 with 12 births in 2015 in England and Wales.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Saint Wilfrid (c. 634–709),  Anglo-Saxon saint and Bishop of York. * Wilfrith (d.743), Bishop of Worcester. * Saint Wilfrid the Younger (d. 745/746), also an Anglo-Saxon saint and Bishop of York. * Wilfrith (d.928), Bishop of Worcester. * Wilfrid Laurier (1841-1919), seventh Prime Minister of Canada. * Wilfrid de Glehn (1870-1951), British Impressionist painter. * Wilfred Baddeley (1872-1929), British tennis player. * Wilfred Trotter (1872-1939), British surgeon, pioneer in neurosurgery and contributor to social psychology. * Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (1878-1962), British poet. * Wilfred Owen (1893-1918), British poet and soldier. * Wilfred Kitching (1893-1977), seventh General of the Salvation Army. * Wilfred Bion (1897-1979), British psychoanalyst. * Wilfred Pickles (1904-1978), English actor and radio presenter. * Wilfred Thesiger (1910-2003), British explorer and travel writer. Contemporary: * Wilfred Bouma (born 1978), Dutch footballer. Literature and Other Media: * Wilfred of Ivanhoe, the hero of Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe (1820). * Wilfred James, the protagonist of 1922. * Wilfred Mott, a character in the Doctor Who universe.

Variants:

Wilfrið, Wilfrith (Anglo-Saxon), Wilfredo (Spanish), Vilfredo (Italian), Wilfried (German), Vilfred (Danish), Guifré (Catalan), Willifrid (Ancient Germanic)

Pronunciation:

WIL-frəd [key]

Possible diminutives:

Wilf, Wilfie, Will, Wolf, Fred, Freddie, Fritz, Billy

Sibling Names:

Felicity     Iris     Arabella     Beatrice     Hazel     Bonnie  Tobias     Rufus     Barnaby     Ralph     Chester     Rupert

Name Lists:

Upright Elegance   Victorian Darlings

 

If you like Wilfred, you may also like:   Felix, Wilbur, Tristan, Jasper, Alfred, Josiah, Bertram, Stanley, Hugh, Edwin

Thanks to Kate for requesting this name.