 King Henry VIII, arguably the most well-known Henry in history. | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈhɛnri/ |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Name day | July 13 |
| Origin | |
| Word/name | England |
| Meaning | Home ruler Ruler of (the) home Ruler of the homeland |
| Other names | |
| Related names |
Nicknames Feminine forms |
Henry is a masculine given name derived from Old French Henri / Henry, itself derived from the Old Frankish name Heimeric, from Common Germanic *Haimarīks (from *haima- "home" and *rīk- "ruler").[1][2] In Old High German, the name was conflated with the name Haginrich (from hagin "enclosure" and rich "ruler") to form Heinrich.[3]
The Old High German name is recorded from the 8th century, in the variants Haimirich, Haimerich, Heimerich, Hemirih.[4] Harry, its English short form, was considered the "spoken form" of Henry in medieval England. Most English kings named Henry were called Harry. The name became so popular in England that the phrase "Tom, Dick, and Harry" began to be used to refer to men in general. The common English feminine forms of the name are Harriet and Henrietta. A Italian variant descended from the Old High German name, Amerigo, was the source from which the continents of the Americas were named.
It has been a consistently popular name in English-speaking countries for centuries. It was among the top 100 most popular names used for men born in the United States, England and Wales, and in Australia in 2007. It was the 46th most common name for boys and men in the United States in the 1990 census, and has ranked among the ten most popular names for American newborn boys in 2020.[5] Harry, its short form, was the fifth most popular name for boys in England and Wales in 2007 and among the top 50 names in Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland in recent years. Harry was ranked as the 578th most popular name in the United States in 2007.[6] It is also in use as a surname.
In the High Middle Ages, the name was Latinized as Henricus. It was a royal name in Germany, France and England throughout the high medieval period (Henry I of Germany, Henry I of England, Henry I of France) and widely used as a given name; as a consequence, many regional variants developed in the languages of Western and Central Europe:[7]
Within German, Low German, Frisian and Dutch, numerous diminutives and abbreviated forms exist, including Low German, Dutch and Frisian Heike, Heiko; Dutch Hein, Heintje; German Heiner, Heinz.
The original diphthong was lost in Dutch Hendrik (hypocoristics Henk, Hennie, Rik), Scandinavian Henrik[8] (whence Henning).
Eastern European languages have developed native forms during the medieval period under the influence of German and the Scandinavian languages, hence Polish Henryk, Czech Jindřich, Hynek. Hungarian, Slovene, Croatian Henrik, Finnish Henrikki (hypocoristic Heikki), and Lithuanian Henrikas or Herkus.
The Old French form Henri / Middle French Henry became productive in the British Isles, in Middle English adopted as Harry, Herry. Herry was adopted into Welsh as Perry, into Irish as Annraoi, Anraí, Einrí and into Scottish Gaelic as Eanraig, Eanruig.
In Southern Europe variants without the initial H- include Italian Arrigo, Enrico, Catalan / Occitan Enric and Spanish Enrique (whence Basque Endika) and Italian Enzo.
A separate variant, which may originate with the Old High German name Haimirich, but possibly conflated with the names Ermenrich (first element ermen "whole") or Amalric (first element amal "vigour, bravery") is Emmerich. Emmerich is the origin of a separate suit of variant names used across Western and Central Europe, although these never rose to the ubiquity of the variants of Henry; they include English Emery, Amery, Emory, French Émeric / Aymeric, Hungarian Imre, Imrus, Slovak Imrich, Italian Amerigo and Iberian (Portuguese, Spanish, Galician) Américo, etc. Hendick
Several variants of Heinrich have given rise to derived feminine given names.[year needed] Low German Henrik, Hendrik gave rise to Henrike, Hendrike, Hendrikje, Hendrina, Henrika and others, Low German Heiko to Heike, Italian Enrico gave rise to Enrica, Spanish Enrique to Enriqueta, Enriquetta, Enriquette. French Henri gave rise to Henriette, Henrietta, further modified to Enrieta, Enrietta, English Harry to Harriet, Harriett, Harrietta, Harriette, hypocorisms Hattie, Hatty, Hettie, Etta, Ettie; various other hypocorisms include Hena, Henna, Henah, Heni, Henia, Henny, Henya, Henka, Dutch Jet, Jett, Jetta, Jette, Ina. In Polish Henryka, Henia, Heniusia, Henka, Henryczka, Henrysia, Rysia are attested.[citation needed] The hypocorisms Rika, Rike etc. may be from this or other names with the second element -ric. Spanish and Portuguese América from the Emmerich variant Amérigo .
Harrison (surname), Henson (surname), Harris (surname), Heaney (Irish surname), Fitzhenry (Irish Hiberno-Norman surname), Heinz (German surname), Enríquez (Spanish surname), Henriques (Portuguese surname), Heney, Henney, Hendrick, Hendricks, Hinrichs, Hendrickx, Hendriks, Hendrikx, Hendrix, Hendryx Henderson Hendrickson Henderickson
The names second element, *Rīk, can also be found in names:
Other names also meaning "ruler", "power", "king", "lord":
