Elvis (name)

Last updated
Elvis
GenderMasculine
Name day 12 September [1]
Other gender
FeminineElvisa
Origin
Word/nameCeltic
MeaningAll wise [2]
Other names
Related namesEilfyw, Eilfw, Ailbe, Ailbhe, Alby, Albeus, Alibeus, Elwen, Elvan

Elvis is a male given name that first appears as that of a Saint Elvis, a figure said to be active in medieval Wales. While the name features in early Medieval Welsh literature and is of Celtic origin, it is uncertain if the name was originally Irish (Gaelic) or Welsh (Brythonic).

Contents

The name has also become predominantly associated in contemporary culture since the mid-twentieth century with the American singer Elvis Presley.

"ELVIS" in lights at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, Commemorating the musician Elvis Presley ELVIS light name - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2014-12-30 11.57.41 by Sam Howzit).jpg
"ELVIS" in lights at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 𝘊𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘖𝘩𝘪𝘰, Commemorating the musician Elvis Presley

Usage

The name most commonly refers to American singer and actor Elvis Presley (1935–1977). Earlier bearers of the name include American government official and college administrator Elvis Jacob Stahr Jr. (1916–1998, born the same year as Elvis Presley's father, Vernon Elvis Presley). [3] In most cases, however, it refers to people who have the name as a tribute to Elvis Presley. People in this latter group includes those who changed their names themselves (with British-born singer and songwriter Elvis Costello being an example), and those who were named Elvis by their parents.[ citation needed ]

Saint Elvis

The saint's name is given as Eilfyw in Welsh, Ailbe in Irish, and Elvis in later English translations. Writing in the late 11th century Buchedd Dewi ("Life of David"), Rhigyfarch states that a Saint Elvis baptised Saint David at Porthclais. [4] [5] Welsh traditions suggest that Elvis spent much of his life in this area, as he is said to have fostered the young St David [6] while serving as bishop of Menevia (present-day St Davids). There remains a number of places associated with the saint that bear the name "Elvis" in the St Davids area, including a burial chamber, a shrine, the Parish of St Elvis, St Elvis farm [7] and St Elvis's Well. [6]

If the saint's name is of a Welsh origin, the Irish version Ailbe may be a gaelicisation of an Ancient British name ancestral to modern Welsh Eilfyw or Eilfw. [8] Alternatively, the name may be related or identical to the Brythonic names Elwen , Eluan and Elvan, the names of a number of several attested saints venerated in early medieval Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. Or even from the surname Elwes. [9] If the name is of Welsh origin, it may derive from the Old Welsh elfydd ("world" or "land"), ultimately from the common Celtic root albi(i̭)o- ("world") [10]

A folk etymology is suggested for a Gaelic origin of the name in the 14th-century Vita Albei, deriving it from ail ("a rock") and beo ("living"). [11]

Other proposed etymologies

In medieval French sources, the unrelated homograph Elvis occurs as a feminine name, a variant of Helvis, Aluysa, Alaisa, from a Germanic name such as Alwis. [12]

The name may also be derived from the Scandinavian Old Norse word Alviss which in Norse mythology means all-wise. [13]

People with the name

Musicians

Athletes (association football)

Athletes (other sports)

Other

Fictional characters

References

  1. ↑ historically also 13 September and 27 February, "Saint Elvis" in Terry Breverton's Wales: A Historical Companion, pp. 164 f. Amberley Publishing (Stroud), 2009.
  2. ↑ https://babynames.com/name/elvis
  3. ↑ "Elvis Presley roots in Scotland". Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
  4. ↑ Wade-Evans, A.W. (1913) Rhigyfarch's Life of Saint David, ed. and trans., University of Wales Press, and (1944) Vitae Sanctorum Britanniae, ed. and trans, Cardiff, UWP. (pp. 150-172, 364-387 in new edition, ed. Scott Lloyd, Welsh Academic Press Cardiff, 2013); Sharpe, Richard and Davies, John Reuben, ed. (2007) "Vita S. David" in Evans, J Wyn and Wooding, Jonathan M, ed. "St David of Wales, Cult, Church and Nation", Boydell Press, Woodbridge
  5. ↑ BBC. "Saint David".
  6. 1 2 "Saint Elvis" in Terry Breverton's Wales: A Historical Companion, pp. 164 f. Amberley Publishing (Stroud), 2009.
  7. ↑ St Elvis farm Solva Pembroke SA62 (Map). Google maps. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
  8. ↑ Plummer, Charles (1968) [1910]. Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae [Lives of the Saints of Ireland] (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon. p.  46 ff., vol. 1.
  9. ↑ Patrick Hanks; Richard Coates; Peter McClure (2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland. Oxford University Press. p. 835. ISBN   978-0199677764.
  10. ↑ In fact this root has been argued to be related to the root albho- 'white, bright', see Meid, Wolfgang (1990) "Über Albion, elfydd, Albiorix, und andere Indikatoren eine keltischen Weltbildes" in M.J. Ball, J, Fife, E, Poppe and J.Rowland, ed. Celtic Linguistics: Readings in the Brythonic Languages, Festschrift for T. Arwyn Watkins, Amsterdam/ Philadelphia.
  11. ↑ Baring-Gould and Fisher (1907), "The Lives of the British Saints" Vol I, p. 130
  12. ↑ Mémoires de la Société bourguignonne de géographie et d'histoire 5 (1887), p. 481; Elvis d'Epoisses (died c. 1252), wife of André de Montbard.
  13. ↑ https://babynames.com/name/elvis
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