illuminated letter V circa 1220 British Library

I have in my possession the Feet of Fines for Norfolk 1201-1215 and for Suffolk 1199-1214. It’s a list of cases brought before judges on the travelling circuit at this time and much of it is concerned with property law and small business that gives us the names of the local populace. East Anglia was once part of the Danelaw and there are strong Scandinavian influences at work in this region, as well as Anglo Saxon and Norman.

Here is a list of names by origin dating to 150 years after the Battle of Hastings. Names of Anglo Saxon and Scandinavian origins seem to be surviving in families at this point although from studying the data it becomes clear that many of the parents with Anglo Saxon and Scandinavian names are now giving their children Norman ones. So for example, Elfstan calls his son Richard, Gunnild calls her son Robert. Brictmar calls his son William. As the Middle Ages progresses, so does the increase in the popularity of certain names. By the early post medieval period, the names William and John accounted for 40% of all boys’ names in Parish registers.
Since I don’t have an Old English alphabet to hand on my keyboard, excuse the approximate spellings. The ‘F’ beside a name indicates a woman. Fewer women are involved in the lawsuits, and so there are corrrespondingly less names. Also some of the names go across the board – particularly biblical ones, and these are frequently given to men in holy orders. Whether these were their baptismal names, or taken on when they became clerics, I do not know.  But here, for readers’ interest, separated out in alphabetical order, are the names I came across while trawling this document.

A: