A List of 15th Century English Men's Names

by Arval Benicoeur (Josh Mittleman) and Talan Gwynek (Brian M. Scott)
mittle@panix.com and scott@math.csuohio.edu

© 1998, 2002 by Josh Mittleman and Brian M. Scott; all rights reserved.


These two tables in this article contain the given names from The Agincourt Honor Roll, web-published by Family Chronicle, a magazine for amateur genealogists. Such sources are often not useful for Society name research, since their goals differ from ours, but this particular list appears to be pretty good. It was scanned out of Sir Nicolas Nicholas Harris, History of the Battle of Agincourt and of the Expedition of Henry the Fifth into France in 1415 to which is added the Roll of the Men at Arms in the English Armory, 3rd edition (London: Johnston & co., 1833). I haven't tracked down a copy of that book in order to check the author's sources. There are a few errors in the online version that are clearly scanning errors introduced by the OCR software. I've tried to correct those errors in this index.


Names Sorted by Frequency

This first list presents the names in order of frequency within the sample. I have combined variant and diminutive forms of a single name for purposes of counting. The most common spelling is used as the headword in the list; variant forms are listed below it. The total count for all forms is given first; the number in parentheses is the count of the specific form chosen as the headword.

John 233 (231) including one typo Johll
   Yon 2 possibly correct, but possibly a typo for Jon
William 134 (133) includes two typos Williarn
   Wlliam 1 possibly a typo for William
Thomas 116 includes one typo Thornas
Robert 58 (57)
   Robyn 1
Richard 57 includes one typo Riehard
Nicholas 32 (29) includes two typos Nieholas
   Nicholl 2
   Nichasin 1 A form of Nicholas, perhaps a typo. Perhaps it should be Nicholin (1 s.n. Nicholin)
Henry 23
Roger 19
Rauf 12
   Raulf 1
   Raulfe 1
   Radus 1 perhaps a scribal abbreviation for Radulfus
   Ranlyn 1 perhaps a typo for Raulyn, a diminutive of Rauf (1 s.n. Rawlin)
Walter 12 (6)
   Waulter 2
   Wauter 2
   Waut 2
Edmund 11 (6)
   Edmond 5
Edward 9
George 8
James 7
Hugh 6
Piers 6 (3)
   Peter 2
   Pires 1
Geffrey 5 (4)
   Geffron 1
Laurence 4
Adam 3
Andrew 3
Christopher 3
Davy 3
Gyles 3
Lewis 3 (1)
   Lewys 1
   Lowis 1
Mayhew 3 (1) a form of Matthew, similar to Old French Mahieu (1 s.n. Mayhew)
   Mayew 1
   Maykn 1 a diminutive of May, which is a pet form of Mayhew or Matthew (1 s.n. May)
Rouland 3
Bernard 2
Bertram 2 (1)
   B'rtram 1 either a scanning error or a scribal abbreviation in the source
Charles 2
Gerard 2
Gryffen 2
Guy 2
Jacob 2
Leonard 2
Olyver 2
Owaine 2(1)
   Oweyn 1
Rys 2
Simon 2 (1)
   Symond 1
Alan 1
Alexander 1
Aleyn 1
Arthur 1
Bartholomew 1
Cok 1 possibly from Old English Cocc(a). This forename was in use as late as c.1500 (1, s.n. Cock)
Conand 1 from Old Breton Conan, apparently fairly common in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (1, s.n. Conan)
Degare 1 a form of Diggory (1 s.n. Diggery; 2 s.n. Diggory)
Denston 1 The entry Stratton: Denston was mis-formatted; it may be an error, possibly a combination of two separate entries.
Ebull 1 We can't identify this name
Elis 1
Esmond 1 a form of Eastmund (1 s.n. Eastman)
Filbert 1
Frederyk 1
Gawayn 1
Gilbert 2 (1)
   Gybon 1 a diminutive of Gilbert, from the pet form Gibb (1 s.n. Gibben)
Godefryd 1
Gregory 1
Hamond 1
Lyell 1 a pet form of Lyon or its diminutive Lionel (1 s.n. Lionel)
Miles 1
Morys 1
Randolf 1
Stephain 1 An unusual form of Stephan, perhaps a typo
Stemham 1 typo, perhaps Stephain again
Stremu 1 probable typo, but we have no idea for what
Triston 1
Waryn 1


Names Sorted Alphabetically

In this list, we have listed all forms separately, excepting the typos that we eliminated from the previous list.

Adam
Alan
Alexander
Aleyn
Andrew
Arthur
B'rtram either a scanning error or a scribal abbreviation in the source; it clearly represents Bertram
Bartholomew
Bernard
Bertram
Charles
Christopher
Cok possibly from Old English Cocc(a). This forename was in use as late as c.1500 (1, s.n. Cock)
Conand from Old Breton Conan, apparently fairly common in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (1, s.n. Conan)
Davy
Degare a form of Diggory (1 s.n. Diggery; 2 s.n. Diggory)
Denston The entry Stratton: Denston was mis-formatted; it may be an error, possibly a combination of two separate entries.
Ebull We can't identify this name.
Edmond
Edmund
Edward
Elis
Esmond a form of Eastmund (1 s.n. Eastman)
Filbert
Frederyk
Gawayn
Geffrey
Geffron a diminutive of Geffrey
George
Gerard
Gilbert
Godefryd
Gregory
Gryffen
Guy
Gybon a diminutive of Gilbert, from the pet form Gibb (1 s.n. Gibben)
Gyles
Hamond
Henry
Hugh
Jacob
James
John
Laurence
Leonard
Lewis
Lewys
Lowis possibly a typo for Lewis
Lyell a pet form of Lyon or its diminutive Lionel (1 s.n. Lionel)
Mayew
Mayhew a form of Matthew, similar to Old French Mahieu (1 s.n. Mayhew)
Maykn a diminutive of May, which is a pet form of Mayhew or Matthew (1 s.n. May)
Miles
Morys
Nichasin A form of Nicholas, perhaps a typo. Perhaps it should be Nicholin (1 s.n. Nicholin)
Nicholas
Nicholl
Olyver
Owaine
Oweyn
Peter
Piers
Pires
Radus perhaps a scribal abbreviation for Radulfus
Randolf
Ranlyn perhaps a typo for Raulyn, a diminutive of Rauf (1 s.n. Rawlin)
Rauf
Raulf
Raulfe
Richard
Robert
Robyn
Roger
Rouland
Rys
Simon
Stemham typo, perhaps Stephain or Stephan
Stephain An unusual form of Stephan, perhaps a typo
Stremu probable typo, but we have no idea for what
Symond
Thomas
Triston
Walter
Waryn
Waulter
Waut
Wauter
William
Wlliam possibly a typo for William
Yon possibly correct, but possibly a typo for Jon

References

(1) Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995).

(2) Withycombe, E.G., The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988).


Editted and published by Arval Benicoeur