Meredith (given name)

Last updated
Meredith
Pronunciation /ˈmɛrɪdɪθ/ MERR-i-dith,
/mɛˈrɛdɪθ/ merr-ED-ith after the Welsh
Gender Unisex (male and female)
Origin
Word/name Welsh
Meaning"Great lord"

“salt and light”

“grace”

Meredith is a Welsh given name, and a surname common in parts of Wales. As a personal name, it was historically usually given to boys, but it has more recently been given mainly to girls. Meredith has many derivatives that have also become personal names and surnames. [1]

Contents

Etymology and history

In Old Welsh (c. 800–1150), the name was usually rendered as Morgetuid or Margetiud. [1] The exact meaning of the first element, Mere, is unclear, although some Welsh scholars have translated it as "great" or "splendid". [1] The final element of iudd has the meaning of lord, and is found in other Welsh names such as Gruffydd and Bleidd[i]udd. [1] However, in Middle Welsh (c. 1150s–1300s) the name was most commonly spelt as Maredud and Maredudd; "in Welsh, the accent is on the penult, and this leads at times to the elision of the vowel of the first syllable," producing an early variant Mredydd, according to T. J. Morgan and Prys Morgan. [1] Anglo-Norman scribes often used e for the first syllable and substituting the double d with a th, producing Mereduth. [1] The forms Meredith and Meredyth are seen as early as the 14th century. [1]

In Medieval manuscripts, the name is frequently "disguised" in records produced by scribes unfamiliar with Welsh naming conventions, and has been confused with the Welsh name Moreiddig (which has produced Moredik, Moriddik, and Morithik). [1] By the early Middle Ages, the name took the form of Mereduc, in part due to "its suitability for taking Latin case-endings". [1] The name has been rendered into Latin as Mereducco, Mereduci, Mereduth, Mereduco, Mereduc, Mereducus, and Mereducius. [1]

In the dialect of Dyfed (Pembrokeshire), the final voiced interdental fricative (represented in writing by dd) was lost to produce the name Meredy. [1] Despite not having any etymological connection, Meredith has also been equated or associated with Merrick, Meyrick, and Moryce, "presumably on the basis of the 'Mer', although it is possible that Maurice was adopted as an approximation", according to Morgan and Morgan. [1]

Various forms of the name include Maredith, Maradyth, Merddith, Merydethe, Mredith, Maready, and Redith. The surname "Merediz", found in the northern coastal region of Spain, particularly Asturias, is derived from it. The surname is also found in Argentina and Mexico.[ citation needed ]

Derivatives

A derivative or pet name of Meredith is Bedo, which has given rise to a variety of other surnames, including: Beddas, Beddis, Beddus, Beddose, Beddos, Beddoe, Beddoes, Beddowe, Beado, Beddah, Beddow, Beddas, Beddass, with a deliberate anglicisation of Beddis/Beddus into Bedhouse. [1] The forms Beddoe, Beddow, Beddoes, and Beddowes are particularly common within the Shropshire region of the Marches. The hardening characteristic of the Glamorgan and Monmouthshire accent mutated the d into t, producing Bettoe and Bettoes with the anglicised variant as Betthouse. [1]

Notable people

Fictional characters

See also

Related Research Articles

Meredith is a name of Welsh origin. A family name, it is also sometimes used as a girl's or boy's forename. In Welsh the name is exclusively male and is spelt Maredudd or Meredydd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ciarán</span> Male given name of Irish origin

Ciarán or Ciaran is a traditionally male given name of Irish origin. It means "little dark one" or "little dark-haired one", produced by appending a diminutive suffix to ciar. It is the masculine version of the name Ciara.

Rhys or Rhŷs is a popular Welsh given name that is famous in Welsh history and is also used as a surname. It originates from Deheubarth, an old region of South West Wales, with famous kings such as Rhys ap Tewdwr.

Llywelyn, Llewelyn or Llewellyn is a name of Welsh language origins. See Llywelyn (name) for the name's etymology, history and other details.

Rónán, anglicised as Ronan, is an Irish and Breton male given name and surname. As a surname, it is derived from the Gaelic Ó Rónáin 'descendant of Rónán' The name has several meanings such as 'seal', 'a pledge', and 'a promising oath'. The word for seal in Irish Gaelic is rón.

Cheryl, occasionally spelt Cheryll, is a female given name common in English-speaking countries.

Griffin is a surname of Irish, English and Welsh origin. Griffin was the 75th most common surname on the island of Ireland in 1891. It was estimated in 2000 that Griffin is the 114th most common surname in the U.S., with a population in the order of two hundred thousand.

Siobhán is a female given name of Irish origin. The most common anglicisations are Siobhan, Shavawn,Shevaun and Shivaun. A now uncommon spelling variant is Siubhán.

Hayley is an English given name.

Barry is both a given name and an Irish surname. The given name can be an Anglicised form of some Irish personal names or shortened form of Barrington, while the surname has numerous etymological origins, and is derived from both place names and personal names.

Éogan or Eógan is an early Irish male given name, which also has the hypocoristic and diminutive forms Eoganán, Eóghainin, Eóghain and Eóghainn. The Modern Irish form of the name is Eoghan.

Jones is a surname of Welsh and English origin meaning "son of John". The surname is common in Wales. It evolved from variations of traditionally Welsh names: Ieuan, Iowan, Ioan, Iwan, or even Siôn. The sound generated from ‘Si-’ in Siôn is a Welsh approximation of the English ‘J’ sound that does not exist natively to the language, equivalent to the English ‘Sh’ such as in “shed.”

Morgan is a surname of Welsh origin.

Shepherd is a surname, cognate of the English word "Shepherd". Several common spelling variations exist, including Shepperd, Shephard, Shepard, and Sheppard.

Owen is usually an anglicised variant of the Welsh personal name Owain. Originally a patronymic, Owen became a fixed surname in Wales beginning with the reign of Henry VIII. Etymologists consider it to originate from Eugene, meaning 'noble-born'. According to T. J. Morgan and Prys Morgan in Welsh Surnames: "the name is a derivation of the Latin Eugenis > OW Ou[u]ein, Eug[u]ein ... variously written in MW as Ewein, Owein, Ywein. LL gives the names Euguen, Iguein, Yuein, Ouein. The corresponding form in Irish is Eoghan." Morgan and Morgan note that there are less likely alternative explanations, and agree with Rachel Bromwich that Welsh Owein "is normally latinised as Eugenius", and that both the Welsh and Irish forms are Latin derivatives.

Gruffudd or Gruffydd is a Welsh name, originating in Old Welsh as a given name and today used as both a given and a surname. It is the origin of the Anglicised name Griffith[s], and was historically sometimes treated as interchangeable with the etymologically unrelated Germanic name Galfrid. The Welsh form evolved from the Common Brittonic Grippiud or Gripuid. The meaning of the name is “strong lord.”

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Llywelyn (name)</span> Welsh name from the medieval age

Llywelyn is a Welsh personal name, which has also become a family name most commonly spelt Llewellyn. The name has many variations and derivations, mainly as a result of the difficulty for non-Welsh speakers of representing the sound of the initial double ll.

Owain is a name of Welsh origin, variously written in Old Welsh as Ougein, Eugein, Euguen, Iguein, Ou(u)ein, Eug(u)ein, Yuein, and in Middle Welsh as Ewein, Owein, and Ywein. Other variants of the name Owain include Ewein, Iguein, Owein, Ouein, Ywen, Ywein, Ywain, Yuein, and Yvain. Owain has also been Latinized as Oenus.

Nia is a given name which appears in many cultures.

Maredudd, also found in the form Meredydd and in other spellings, is a Welsh male given name. The English-language name Meredith derives from it. A pet form of the name was Bedo, which has also entered the English language in names such as Beddoe and Beddoes.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Morgan, T. J.; Morgan, Prys (1985). Welsh Surnames. University of Wales Press. pp. 160–162. ISBN   0-7083-0936-4.