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Origin: |
Albert is the modern English form of two cognate names: the old Germanic Adalberaht (Adalbert) and the Anglo-Saxon Æðelberht (Ethelbert). The former was introduced to Britain by the Normans where it largely replaced its Old English counterpart. Both names were descended from the Proto-Germanic elements *athala- "noble" and *berhta- "bright." |
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Usage: |
Æðelberht was not at all uncommon among Anglo-Saxon royalty in England. Kings to bear the name include two 7th and 8th century kings of Kent, a 7th century king of Hwicce, an 8th century king of Sussex, two 8th century kings of East Anglia and a 9th century king of Wessex. The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE) database has records of three Adalberts (the Latinised form of the Germanic name) from the 6th to the 11th century. Added to this, there are also 32 records for Æthelberht (several of them Anglo-Saxon kings or nobles) as well as five Æthelbeorhts and one Æthelbert. Both Saxon and Norman forms of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086. Adalbert is found commonly latinised as Albertus, while Æthelberht is found as Ailbertus / Ailbriht. It is from the Germanic Adalbert from which Albert emerged, reinforced by the Old French form Aubert, and both Albert and Aubert are found as surnames from the 12th century. Ailbriht (the later form of Æthelberht) was used as a given name to at least the 14th century, and created the surname Albright/Allbright. Overall, however, Albert in any form was not common in Britain. It does not rank at all in George Redmonds' top 50 names from the poll tax returns of ten English counties 1377-81, nor does it appear in Smith-Bannister's top 50 name rankings from 1538-1700.* It is also absent from Leslie Dunkling's top 50 rankings for England and Wales in both 1700 and 1800. It was common, however, on the Continent, being the name of several medieval saints, as well as kings of Germany, Sweden, Austria, Saxony and Bohemia. There are many medieval records for variants of the name in France, Germany and Italy from the 7th to the 15th century. The name really took off in Britain with the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on the 10th February 1840. There were 260 boys named Albert in the Oct-Dec quarter of 1839. This almost quadrupled to 809 births in the Jan-Mar quarter of 1840 at the time of the royal wedding. The name saw a further boost in 1861 — the year of Prince Albert's death. So determined and domineering was Queen Victoria in passing on the name Albert to all her male descendants that all of her children used the name Albert as a first or middle name for one of their sons. Of her eighteen grandsons, twelve bore the name Albert as one of their names. Upon the birth of Prince Albert Victor in 1864, the eldest child of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), Queen Victoria, announced his name as "Albert Victor" publicly before even consulting his parents. The Prince and Princess of Wales added the names Christian (after King Christian IX of Denmark, his maternal grandfather) and Edward. Perhaps in some form of protest, they always called their son "Eddy" throughout his life. The royal use of the name had a massive impact on the popularity of the name in England and Wales. It was especially popular in the South of England, as data from the 1881 census shows (see image below, right). click to enlarge
Births in England and Wales:
By 1964, Albert had fallen out of the top 100 in England and Wales. In Scotland, Albert was #35 in 1900, #66 in 1950 but had fallen to #206 by 1974.
From 2006 onward, the name started to rise steadily, taking a more marked leap after 2010 when it went from #159 (353 births) to #130 (493 births). Albert first entered the top 100 again in England and Wales in 2013 at #99 and in 2017 ranked #59 with 1066 births. Individually, Albert ranked #58 in England (1046 births) and #157 (20 births) in Wales in 2017. Following the success of Alfie and Archie, the traditional short forms of Albert — Albie and Bertie have also seen a rise during this time. Albie first joined the top 500 in 2003 and saw a swift rise through the top 200 from 2012, reaching the top 100 by 2016, overtaking Albert in 2017. Bertie was below the top 100 for most of the decade from 1996 to 2006, but reached the top 500 in 2011 and has been rising since. In 2017, Albie ranked #57 with 1114 births and Bertie ranked #308 with 162 births. In Scotland, Albert is much more uncommon, having no more than 7 births in any given year between 1975 to 2011. In 2014, it rose to #336 (11 births) and peaked in 2015 at #224 with 21 births. In 2017, Albert ranked #383 with 9 births. |
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Famous Bearers: |
Royalty: * Albert I of Brandenburg (c. 1100–1170) Margrave of Brandenburg from 1157 to 1170 and duke of Saxony from 1138 to 1142. History: * Albert of Aix (c. 1100), historian of the first crusade. Contemporary: * Albert Finney, (born 1936), English actor. Literature and Other Media: * Albert Tatlock, a character in Coronation Street (1960-1984). |
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Variants: |
Albrecht (German), Aubert (French), Alberto (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese), Alpertti (Finnish) |
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Pronunciation: |
Al-bət [key] |
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Possible diminutives: |
Al, Albie, Bert, Bertie |
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Sibling Names: |
Florence Evelyn Harriet Beatrice Elsie Hazel |
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Name Lists: |
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Thanks to June for requesting this name.
