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Ranulf

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Ranulf
GenderMasculine
Language(s)English, Old French, Old Occitan
Origin
Language(s)West Germanic, Old Norse, Gothic
Word/nameRaginolf / Raginulf / Reginúlfr / Ramnulf / Ramnolf
Derivationragin / reginn or hrabns + ulf / úlfr / wulfs
Meaning"advice", "decision" or "raven" + "wolf"

Ranulf was a masculine given name in Old French and Old Occitan, and is a masculine given name in the English language. Ranulf was introduced into England by the Norman conquest or alternatively is said to have been introduced to Scotland and northern England, by Scandinavian settlers in Early Middle Ages.[1] However, most earliest historical figures with this name originated on the continent. It is derived from the West Germanic name Raginulf, Raginolf.[2] This West Germanic personal name is composed of two elements: the first, RAGN > ragin, means "advice", "decision" ;[2] the second element, (w)ulf / (w)olf, means "wolf".[2] or alternatively the Old Norse name Reginúlfr is based on the Old Norse variant forms reginn and úlfr.[1] The Old Occitan anthroponym Ranulf (Ramnulf, Rannulf) does not contain exactly the same first element, but hram, short form of Gothic hrabns "raven".[3]

People with the name

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Fictional characters with the name

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  • Ranulf, character in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and its sequel, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
  • Ranulf, an additional natural son of Henry I of England in Sharon Kay Penman's Plantagenet series. The meticulous research for which Penman is noted extends to the names of minor characters. Completely fictional characters in her books are rare and are always identified in her author's notes. They serve as devices to illustrate aspects of medieval life, to reveal information, or to bridge gaps in knowledge, especially when such revelations would be out of character for the historical figures in her novels.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Reference of Oxford Paperback (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 226, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1 (read online) [1]
  2. ^ a b c Nordic Names : Raginolf (read online) [2]
  3. ^ Marie-Thérèse Morlet, "Études d'anthroponymie occitane : les noms de personne de l’obituaire de Moissac (suite)" in Revue internationale d'onomastique, 1958, 10-1, p. 44 (read online) [3]
  4. ^ Penman, Sharon Kay. "Ranulf vs Richard," 5 May 2009. Author's blog article accessed at <http://sharonkaypenman.com/blog/?p=48> 14 July 2013.