Archibald is a masculine given name, composed of the Germanic elements erchan (with an original meaning of "genuine" or "precious"[1]) and bald meaning "bold".

Archibald
GenderMale
Origin
Word/nameGermanic
Other names
Short form(s)Archie

Medieval forms include Old High German Erchambald, Erkanbold, Erkanbald and Anglo-Saxon Eorcenbald. Erkanbald, bishop of Strasbourg (d. 991) was also rendered Archaunbault in Old French. There is also a secondary association of its first element with the Greek prefix archi- meaning "chief, master", to Norman England in the High Middle Ages.

The form Archibald became particularly popular among Scottish nobility in the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period, whence usage as a surname is derived by the 18th century, found especially in Scotland and later Nova Scotia.

Given name

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English diminutives or hypocorisms include Arch, Archy, Archie, and Baldie (nickname). Variants include French Archambault, Archaimbaud, Archenbaud, Archimbaud, Italian Archimboldo, Arcimbaldo, Arcimboldo, Portuguese Arquibaldo, Arquimbaldo and Spanish Archibaldo, Archivaldo. Archibald is used as the anglicization of the (unrelated) Gaelic given name Gille Easbuig (also anglicized as Gillespie).

The given name Archibald was comparatively popular in the United States in the late 19th century, peaking at rank 290 in 1890, but it rapidly fell out of fashion in the early 20th century, falling below rank 1,000 in popularity during the 1920s.[2]

Variations

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  • Arikībalili - (Amharic)
  • 'Arshibalid (أرشيبالد) - (Arabic)
  • Arčybaĺd (Арчыбальд) - (Belarusian)
  • Ārcibalḍa (আর্চিবল্ড) - (Bengali)
  • Арчибалд - (Bulgarian)
  • Āqíbó'ěrdé (阿奇博尔德) - (Simplified Chinese)
  • Āqíbó'ěrdé (阿奇博爾德) - (Traditional Chinese)
  • Archibaldi (არჩიბალდი) - (Georgian)
  • Ārkībalḍa (આર્કીબલ્ડ) - (Gujarati)
  • ארציבלד - (Hebrew)
  • Ārchībālḍ (आर्चीबाल्ड) - (Hindi)
  • Āchiborudo (アーチボルド) - (Japanese)
  • Ārcibālḍ (ಆರ್ಚಿಬಾಲ್ಡ್) - (Kannada)
  • Arçïbald (Арчибальд) - (Kazakh)
  • Achiboldeu (아치볼드) - (Korean)
  • Arçibald (Арчибалд) - (Kyrgyz)
  • Archibaldus - (Latin)
  • Archibaldas - (Lithuanian)
  • Arkkibāḷḍ (ആർക്കിബാൾഡ്) - (Malayalam)
  • Ārkibālḍa (आर्किबाल्ड) - (Marathi)
  • Armibald (Армибалд) - (Mongolian)
  • Ārcibilḍa (आर्चिबिल्ड) - (Nepali)
  • آرکبالډ - (Pashto)
  • آرشیابالد - (Persian)
  • Ārakībālaḍa (ਆਰਕੀਬਾਲਡ) - (Punjabi)
  • Archibal'd (Арчибальд) - (Russian)
  • Arčibald (Арчибалд) - (Serbian)
  • آرڪٽيڪال (Sindhi)
  • Acikabalḍ (අචිකබල්ඩ්) - (Sinhala)
  • Ārccipālṭ (ஆர்ச்சிபால்ட்) - (Tamil)
  • Ārcibālḍ (ఆర్చిబాల్డ్) - (Telugu)
  • Archybalʹd (Арчибальд) - (Ukrainian)
  • آرکبالڈ - (Urdu)

People with given name

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Medieval

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Early modern

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In the late medieval and early modern period, the given name Archibald became popular among Scottish aristocracy in particular. See Archibald Campbell (disambiguation), Archibald Douglas (disambiguation), Archibald Hamilton (disambiguation), Archibald Montgomerie (disambiguation), Archibald Napier (disambiguation), Archibald Primrose (disambiguation) for lists of individuals with these names.

Modern

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People with the mononym or pseudonym

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Fictional characters with the given name

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Surname

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Archibald is a modern Anglo-Saxon surname, derived from the given name.

In Renaissance Italy

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Arcimboldo or Arcimboldi was used as a surname in Renaissance Italy--see Arcimboldi

In Nova Scotia, Canada

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It becomes frequent in Nova Scotia by the later 18th century. Early bearers of the name associated with Nova Scotia include:

In other places

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The surname becomes more widespread in the English-speaking world in general during the 19th century:

Canada
United States
Australia
New Zealand
United Kingdom

In the UK, Archibald is mostly found as a Scottish surname.

Fictional characters with the surname

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ cf. Old English eorcnan-stan "precious stone, gem". Pokorny (1959) tentatively grouped the word with PIE *arǵ- "glittering, shining", whence Latin argentum "silver"), but Gothic ark- may also represent an early loan from Greek ἀρχι- ("arch-", cf. Ulfilian Gothic arkaggilus for archangelus), i.e. precisely the element with which the first element in this name was again associated by popular etymology in the medieval period. Formerly (Diefenbach 1851) also compared to Sanskrit arh- "to be worthy".
  2. ^ US statistics cited after behindthename.com