Boy · Old English
Æthelberht
Say it: ATH-el-bairkht
Meaning
From Old English æthel 'noble' and beorht 'bright'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Borne by the king of Kent who received Augustine's mission in 597 and issued the earliest English law code.
Its wave through time
No birth counts are recorded for this name in the records loaded here: it has been given to fewer than five babies a year, or not at all, since records began.
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The Viking and Anglo-Saxon Age700 to 1100
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Ethelbert
Famous bearers
- Æthelberht, king of Kent
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Anglo-Saxon charters, chronicles and church records
- Royal and noble genealogies
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.