Anglo-Saxon Names: Kings, Saints and Everyday Names

Anglo-Saxon names fall into three groups: the kings (Penda, Offa, Alfred, Æthelstan, Edgar, Harold), the saints (Cuthbert, Hild, Bede, Æthelthryth, Dunstan) and the everyday names of ordinary landholders, like Ælfric, Godric, Godwine and Wulfric. The most common name in the whole Domesday record is Ælfric, carried by 283 different people, according to our count of the PASE Domesday database run by Oxford, King’s College London and Cambridge. Almost all of them were built from two parts, which you can try for yourself in the name builder below.

This guide is part of our Scottish Names collection. Browse the full Scottish Names directory, see which of these names parents still use in our Old English names guide with 2025 baby counts, or follow them into family names with the Old English surnames list.

This is for anyone writing, reading or gaming in early medieval England who wants names that sound right because they are right, and for the curious who want to know what Æthelstan or Wulfrun actually means. You get a builder that only uses real name parts, the Domesday top tens for men and women, the royal line of Wessex and the saints, and a quick list of 74 names.

A wee bit of context first. Anglo-Saxon England ran from roughly the 5th century to 1066, and nearly every name in it followed the same pattern: one element from a short list, plus another. Æthel (noble) and Ead (wealth) for the royals, Wulf (wolf) and Leof (dear) for everybody. The individual parts mean something; the whole name usually does not form a sentence.

Two Scots Abroad · Scottish names

Anglo-Saxon name builder

Pick a first element and a second element to build an Anglo-Saxon name. Every element and meaning is a real one, and the builder tells you whether the name you made is actually recorded: 181 of the 500 combinations here turn up in Domesday or in our list of kings, saints and everyday names.

First element

Second element

Sources: PASE Domesday (Oxford, KCL, Cambridge), Wikipedia Germanic name table, Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon DictionaryAs of October 2026 · twoscotsabroad.com

What were the most common Anglo-Saxon names?

Ælfric, Godric, Alwine and Godwine top the Domesday list for men, and Ælfgifu, Leofgifu and Eadgifu for women. The PASE Domesday database identifies every named person in Domesday Book, both the holders of 1066 and the lords of 1086, and we counted them by name. These are ordinary landholders, not just earls, so this is the closest thing to a popularity chart for late Anglo-Saxon England.

Rank	Men’s names	People	Women’s names	People
1	Ælfric (elf ruler)	283	Ælfgifu (elf gift)	44
2	Godric (god or good ruler)	271	Leofgifu (dear gift)	28
3	Alwine (noble or elf friend)	269	Eadgifu (wealth gift)	26
4	Godwine (god or good friend)	259	Eadgyth (wealth battle)	22
5	Almær (noble or elf famous)	190	Godgifu (god gift)	20
6	Wulfric (wolf ruler)	181	Alflæd (noble or elf beauty)	15
7	Eadric (wealth ruler)	162	Wulfgifu (wolf gift)	15
8	Alweard (noble or elf guard)	155	Ealdgyth (old battle)	11
9	Leofwine (dear friend)	144	Beorhtgifu (bright gift)	11
10	Leofric (dear ruler)	131	Leofflæd, Æthelgifu	8 each

Our count of the PASE Domesday export, October 2026, English names only (William, with 234, and Robert, with 173, would otherwise sit inside the men’s top ten). PASE head forms such as Alwine and Almær can each cover more than one Old English name. Checked October 2026.

Look at the women’s column and one element does almost all the work: -gifu, gift. Five of the top ten women’s names end in it. The men’s list is shared out between -ric (ruler), -wine (friend) and a lot of wolves. Norse names were common too in 1066: PASE lists 87 Thorkils, 76 Ulfkils, 49 Sweins and 48 Ketils, which is a story for our Viking names guide.

How Anglo-Saxon names were built

The rule is simple: take a first element and add a second. Wikipedia sums it up: the two parts “do not necessarily have any semantic relationship to each other” and the combination “does not usually carry a compound meaning”. So Wulfstan is wolf plus stone, not a stone wolf. Some names had only one part, and the Society for Name Studies lists short names like Totta, Cofa and Dudda, often pet forms of longer ones.

First elements	Meaning	Second elements	Meaning
Æþel-	noble	-rǣd	counsel
Ēad-	wealth, prosperity	-weard	guardian
Ælf-	elf	-wine	friend
Ōs-	a god	-mund	protection
Wulf-	wolf	-rīc	ruler
Lēof-	dear, beloved	-stān	stone
Beorht-	bright	-gār	spear
Cūþ-	renowned	-weald	power
Sige-	victory	-gifu (women)	gift
Cyne-	royal	-þrȳþ (women)	force, strength
Here-	army	-flǣd (women)	purity, glory, beauty
Ecg-	sword, blade	-burh (women)	fortress

Element meanings from Wikipedia’s Germanic name table (which marks -þrȳþ and -flǣd as feminine only) and the Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary.

Good to know: names wore down in everyday speech. The PASE entry for Æthelwulf notes that from the later 9th century the name was increasingly replaced by the short form Athulf, and that even Alfred’s father was sometimes called Aþulf. That is why Domesday spellings often look clipped, and why PASE files several names under one head form.

Anglo-Saxon kings’ names

The House of Wessex used a tight set of royal elements, Æthel- and Ead- above all, and reused them across generations. Here is the line from Ecgberht to Harold, with dates from the kings’ own Wikipedia entries.

King	Reigned	Name means
Ecgberht	802 to 839	sword + bright
Æthelwulf	839 to 856	noble + wolf
Alfred	871 to 899	elf + counsel
Edward the Elder	899 to 924	wealth + guardian
Æthelstan	924 to 939	noble + stone
Edmund I	939 to 946	wealth + protection
Eadred	946 to 955	wealth + counsel
Eadwig	955 to 959	wealth + war
Edgar	959 to 975	wealth + spear
Æthelred	978 to 1016	noble + counsel
Edmund Ironside	1016	wealth + protection
Edward the Confessor	1042 to 1066	wealth + guardian
Harold II	1066	army + power

Reign dates from Wikipedia. Æthelred was out of power from December 1013 to February 1014. Danish kings Cnut and his sons ruled between 1016 and 1042.

Alfred

Old English: Ælfrǣd. Meaning: elf + counsel. Type: king. In Domesday: 68.

The only English king called the Great. Alfred won at Edington in 878 and ruled the West Saxons, then the Anglo-Saxons, until 899. He was the youngest son of Æthelwulf, and three of his brothers, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred, reigned before him, which shows how the family recycled the Æthel- names.

Æthelstan

Old English: Æþelstān. Meaning: noble + stone. Type: king. In Domesday: 10.

Æthelstan ruled from 924 to 939 and is regarded by modern historians as the first King of England. Noble plus stone. PASE still counts 10 Domesday men under the name, so it lived on below the royal level.

Æthelred

Old English: Æþelrǣd. Meaning: noble + counsel. Type: king. In Domesday: 7.

Æthelred means noble counsel, and his nickname, Unræd, is a pun on it. Wikipedia quotes the historian Levi Roach calling it “his immortal epithet”, a pun that turned good counsel into ill counsel. A thousand years on, it is still the best joke in English royal history.

Penda

Old English: Penda. Meaning: uncertain. Type: king. In Domesday: not recorded.

Not every Anglo-Saxon name splits neatly into two parts. Penda, the pagan king of Mercia who helped defeat Edwin of Northumbria and later killed Edwin’s successor Oswald, had a short name whose meaning nobody can pin down. Offa of Mercia is the same.

Anglo-Saxon saints’ names

Cuthbert

Old English: Cūþbeorht. Meaning: famous + bright. Type: saint. In Domesday: not recorded.

Cuthbert was a monk at Melrose and bishop of Lindisfarne, and he died in 687. Renowned plus bright. He is a saint of the Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition, which puts him firmly in Scottish Borders history too, part of the longer story in our how old is Scotland explainer.

Hild

Old English: Hild. Meaning: battle. Type: saint. In Domesday: not recorded.

Abbess of Whitby, born in 614 into the Deiran royal family, and host of the Synod of Whitby in 664. Her elder sister was Hereswith. A one-element name: hild simply means battle.

Æthelthryth

Old English: Æþelþrȳþ. Meaning: noble + strength. Type: saint. In Domesday: not recorded.

An East Anglian princess and abbess of Ely, who died in 679. Wikipedia notes that more medieval vernacular lives were written about her than any other native English female saint. Her name survives as Audrey.

Æbbe

Old English: Æbbe. Meaning: uncertain. Type: saint. In Domesday: not recorded.

Æbbe of Coldingham was a daughter of King Æthelfrith of Bernicia, sister of Oswald, and founder of monasteries at Ebchester and at St Abb’s Head near Coldingham, now in the Scottish Borders. She died in 683.

Ælfheah

Old English: Ælfhēah. Meaning: elf + high. Type: saint. In Domesday: 17.

St Alphege, archbishop of Canterbury from 1006, captured by Vikings at the siege of Canterbury in 1011 and killed in 1012. PASE counts 17 Domesday men with his name, and it survives as the surname Elphick.

Everyday Anglo-Saxon names from Domesday

Ælfric

Old English: Ælfrīc. Meaning: elf + ruler. Type: everyday name. In Domesday: 283.

Elf plus ruler. With 283 people in the PASE Domesday record, this was the commonest name in late Anglo-Saxon England. Elf names were everywhere: Ælfgar, Ælfgifu and Alfred all start the same way.

Godric

Old English: Godrīc. Meaning: god or good + ruler. Type: everyday name. In Domesday: 271.

God (or good) plus ruler, and 271 people. Hold on to that god-or-good ambiguity: the Germanic name table says the two meanings often cannot be told apart.

Wulfric

Old English: Wulfrīc. Meaning: wolf + ruler. Type: everyday name. In Domesday: 181.

Wolf plus ruler, 181 people. Our count found nearly 30 different Domesday names starting with Wulf-, from Wulfmær (76 people) to Wulfrun, which makes it one of the busiest elements in the builder above.

Leofwine

Old English: Lēofwine. Meaning: dear + friend. Type: everyday name. In Domesday: 144.

Dear plus friend. Earl Leofric of Mercia’s father was a Leofwine, and 144 Domesday people carried the name. Lēof is one of the gentlest elements in the system.

Godgifu

Old English: Godgifu. Meaning: god + gift. Type: everyday name. In Domesday: 20.

God plus gift, the real name of Lady Godiva, wife of Earl Leofric. PASE counts 20 Domesday women called Godgifu, so she was one of many.

Wulfrun

Old English: Wulfrūn. Meaning: wolf + secret, rune. Type: everyday name. In Domesday: 6.

Wolf plus secret. Wulfrun was granted land at Heantun in 985 by Æthelred, and by 1070 the place was known as Wolvrenehamptonia, Wulfrun’s high farm. Today it is Wolverhampton. Six Domesday women shared her name.

How to choose an Anglo-Saxon name

For a story set before 900, lean on single and early names. Penda, Offa, Hild, Æbbe, Cuthbert and Edwin belong to the 600s and 700s.
For the Viking wars and after, use the Domesday favourites. Ælfric, Godric, Godwine, Wulfric, Leofwine, Ælfgifu and Leofgifu are what real people were called around 1066.
For a royal feel, use Æthel- and Ead-. The builder shows which combinations were real: Æthelstan and Eadgifu, yes; plenty of others, not recorded.
For a child today, check the modern forms. Edith, Audrey, Alfred and Edward made the 2025 lists; Ælfric and Godgifu did not, and there is probably a reason for that.

Watch out for: the meanings. Æthelwulf is not a noble wolf, it is noble plus wolf, and Godwine might be god’s friend or good friend. Also beware PASE head forms such as Alwine and Almær: each can stand for more than one Old English name, such as Æthelwine or Ælfwine. If you want the Norse half of the picture, our male Viking names guide covers the Thorkils and Sweins.

Quick list: 74 Anglo-Saxon names

Name	Old English	Meaning	Type	For	People in Domesday
Alfred	Ælfrǣd	elf + counsel	King	Man	68
Eadred	Ēadrǣd	wealth + counsel	King	Man	6
Eadwig	Ēadwīg	wealth + war	King	Man	29
Ecgberht	Ecgberht	sword + bright	King	Man	2
Edgar	Ēadgār	wealth + spear	King	Man	6
Edmund	Ēadmund	wealth + protection	King	Man	20
Edward	Ēadweard	wealth + guardian	King	Man	56
Edwin	Ēadwine	wealth + friend	King	Man	92
Harold	Hereweald	army + power	King	Man	19
Ine	Ine	uncertain	King	Man	not recorded
Offa	Offa	uncertain	King	Man	not recorded
Oswald	Ōsweald	god + power	King	Man	3
Penda	Penda	uncertain	King	Man	not recorded
Rædwald	Rǣdwald	counsel + power	King	Man	not recorded
Æthelberht	Æþelberht	noble + bright	King	Man	4
Æthelred	Æþelrǣd	noble + counsel	King	Man	7
Æthelstan	Æþelstān	noble + stone	King	Man	10
Æthelwulf	Æþelwulf	noble + wolf	King	Man	7
Cynethryth	Cyneþrȳþ	royal + strength	Queen or royal woman	Woman	not recorded
Eadgifu	Ēadgifu	wealth + gift	Queen or royal woman	Woman	26
Eadgyth	Ēadgȳð	wealth + battle	Queen or royal woman	Woman	22
Ealhswith	Ealhswīþ	temple + strength	Queen or royal woman	Woman	not recorded
Ælfgifu	Ælfgifu	elf + gift	Queen or royal woman	Woman	44
Æthelflæd	Æþelflǣd	noble + beauty	Queen or royal woman	Woman	2
Aldhelm	Ealdhelm	old + protector	Saint	Man	not recorded
Bede	Bǣda	uncertain	Saint	Man	not recorded
Chad	Ceadda	uncertain	Saint	Man	not recorded
Cuthbert	Cūþbeorht	famous + bright	Saint	Man	not recorded
Dunstan	Dūnstān	dark or hill + stone	Saint	Man	not recorded
Frithuswith	Friþuswīþ	peace + strength	Saint	Woman	not recorded
Hild	Hild	battle	Saint	Woman	not recorded
Mildrith	Mildþrȳþ	gentle + strength	Saint	Woman	not recorded
Swithun	Swīþhūn	strong + (uncertain)	Saint	Man	not recorded
Werburgh	Wǣrburh	true + fortress	Saint	Woman	not recorded
Wilfrid	Wilfrīþ	will + peace	Saint	Man	not recorded
Æbbe	Æbbe	uncertain	Saint	Woman	not recorded
Ælfheah	Ælfhēah	elf + high	Saint	Man	17
Æthelthryth	Æþelþrȳþ	noble + strength	Saint	Woman	not recorded
Alflæd	Æþelflǣd or Ælfflǣd	noble or elf + beauty	Everyday name	Woman	15
Almær	Æþelmǣr or Ælfmǣr	noble or elf + famous	Everyday name	Man	190
Alnoth	Æþelnōþ or Ælfnōþ	noble or elf + daring	Everyday name	Man	81
Alric	Æþelrīc or Ælfrīc	noble or elf + ruler	Everyday name	Man	103
Alsige	Æþelsige or Ælfsige	noble or elf + victory	Everyday name	Man	77
Alweald	Æþelweald or Ælfweald	noble or elf + power	Everyday name	Man	52
Alweard	Æþelweard or Ælfweard	noble or elf + guard	Everyday name	Man	155
Alwig	Æþelwīg or Ælfwīg	noble or elf + war	Everyday name	Man	72
Alwine	Æþelwine or Ælfwine	noble or elf + friend	Everyday name	Man	269
Beorhtgifu	Beorhtgifu	bright + gift	Everyday name	Woman	11
Beorhtmær	Beorhtmǣr	bright + famous	Everyday name	Man	59
Beorhtric	Beorhtrīc	bright + ruler	Everyday name	Man	70
Eadric	Ēadrīc	wealth + ruler	Everyday name	Man	162
Ealdgyth	Ealdgȳð	old + battle	Everyday name	Woman	11
Godgifu	Godgifu	god + gift	Everyday name	Woman	20
Godric	Godrīc	god or good + ruler	Everyday name	Man	271
Godwine	Godwine	god or good + friend	Everyday name	Man	259
Leofflæd	Lēofflǣd	dear + beauty	Everyday name	Woman	8
Leofgifu	Lēofgifu	dear + gift	Everyday name	Woman	28
Leofric	Lēofrīc	dear + ruler	Everyday name	Man	131
Leofwine	Lēofwine	dear + friend	Everyday name	Man	144
Osmund	Ōsmund	god + protection	Everyday name	Man	44
Siward	Sigeweard	victory + guard	Everyday name	Man	94
Wulfgifu	Wulfgifu	wolf + gift	Everyday name	Woman	15
Wulfmær	Wulfmǣr	wolf + famous	Everyday name	Man	76
Wulfnoth	Wulfnōþ	wolf + daring	Everyday name	Man	40
Wulfric	Wulfrīc	wolf + ruler	Everyday name	Man	181
Wulfrun	Wulfrūn	wolf + secret, rune	Everyday name	Woman	6
Wulfsige	Wulfsige	wolf + victory	Everyday name	Man	32
Wulfstan	Wulfstān	wolf + stone	Everyday name	Man	29
Wulfweard	Wulfweard	wolf + guard	Everyday name	Man	58
Wulfwine	Wulfwine	wolf + friend	Everyday name	Man	75
Ælfgar	Ælfgār	elf + spear	Everyday name	Man	89
Ælfhild	Ælfhild	elf + battle	Everyday name	Woman	6
Ælfric	Ælfrīc	elf + ruler	Everyday name	Man	283
Æthelgifu	Æþelgifu	noble + gift	Everyday name	Woman	8

Domesday counts are our count of the PASE Domesday export (October 2026), using PASE head forms; not recorded means the name is absent from Domesday, not that it was never used. Meanings from Wikipedia’s Germanic name table and Bosworth-Toller.

FAQ about Anglo-Saxon names

What were common Anglo-Saxon names?

The commonest men’s names in Domesday, which records landholders around 1066, were Ælfric (283 people), Godric (271), Alwine (269) and Godwine (259), according to our count of the PASE database. For women, Ælfgifu (44), Leofgifu (28) and Eadgifu (26) led. Most were built from two elements.

How were Anglo-Saxon names formed?

Most Anglo-Saxon names joined two elements, such as Æthel (noble) and red (counsel) in Æthelred, or Wulf (wolf) and stan (stone) in Wulfstan. The parts each had a meaning, but the whole name did not usually form a phrase. Some names, such as Penda, Offa or Hild, had a single element.

What are some Anglo-Saxon kings’ names?

Anglo-Saxon kings included Penda and Offa of Mercia, Æthelberht of Kent, Edwin and Oswald of Northumbria, and the House of Wessex: Ecgberht, Æthelwulf, Alfred, Edward, Æthelstan, Edmund, Eadred, Eadwig, Edgar, Æthelred, Edward the Confessor and Harold II, killed at Hastings in 1066.

What are some Anglo-Saxon girl names?

Anglo-Saxon women’s names include Ælfgifu, Eadgifu, Godgifu (Godiva), Eadgyth (Edith), Æthelflæd, Æthelthryth (Audrey), Hild, Mildrith (Mildred), Frithuswith (Frideswide), Werburgh and Wulfrun. Many end in -gifu (gift), -flæd (beauty), -thryth (strength) or -burh (fortress).

What does Æthel mean in Anglo-Saxon names?

Æthel means noble. It is one of the most common first elements in Anglo-Saxon royal names, as in Æthelred, Æthelstan, Æthelflæd and Æthelberht. The Victorians turned it into the separate first name Ethel, and through Æthelthryth it also gave English the name Audrey.

Final thoughts on Anglo-Saxon names

If you need one name that sums up Anglo-Saxon England, it is not Alfred but Ælfric: the plain, common, elf-ruler name of 283 landholders in Domesday, and almost completely forgotten now. The kings are famous, but the everyday names are the real texture of the period.

Play with the builder, check whether your creation was real, and if you want the names that lived on, the Old English names guide linked above has the modern baby counts. For the family names that grew out of these, from Godwin to Woolnough, the English surnames guide picks up the story.

Names, Specific Names

Anglo-Saxon Names: Kings, Saints and 74 Everyday Names