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ArchivesKing Anna and his name
There was a King of East Anglia in England who reigned between 636 and 654 named Anna. Here's the Wikipedia page about him:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_of_East_Anglia
So far I have not been able to find any knowledgeable discussion of the origin of King Anna's name. The closest is the reference lower down in the Wikipedia article to a speculation by a historian that his full name might have been Æthelmund, though even that historian says that Æthelmund could very well have been another person entirely.
Has anyone here run across any ideas from an expert on either Anglo-Saxon history or the Old English language on what the origin of Anna as a male name might be? King Anna's name often gets mentioned in discussions of people who have names which seem to be cross-gender to speakers of modern English, but without any indication as to where his name came from. It's of course possible this is just completely unknown, but I thought is was worthwhile to ask if anyone here has run across a speculation about it from a real expert.
The book "A Dictionary of English Place-Names" does say that the places Ancaster and Andoversford were named after men called Anna, which implies that the King may not have been the only example of Anna as a male name in Anglo-Saxon times, especially since neither place is in East Anglia (though Ancaster is in southern Lincolnshire fairly close to East Anglia.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_of_East_Anglia
So far I have not been able to find any knowledgeable discussion of the origin of King Anna's name. The closest is the reference lower down in the Wikipedia article to a speculation by a historian that his full name might have been Æthelmund, though even that historian says that Æthelmund could very well have been another person entirely.
Has anyone here run across any ideas from an expert on either Anglo-Saxon history or the Old English language on what the origin of Anna as a male name might be? King Anna's name often gets mentioned in discussions of people who have names which seem to be cross-gender to speakers of modern English, but without any indication as to where his name came from. It's of course possible this is just completely unknown, but I thought is was worthwhile to ask if anyone here has run across a speculation about it from a real expert.
The book "A Dictionary of English Place-Names" does say that the places Ancaster and Andoversford were named after men called Anna, which implies that the King may not have been the only example of Anna as a male name in Anglo-Saxon times, especially since neither place is in East Anglia (though Ancaster is in southern Lincolnshire fairly close to East Anglia.)
This message was edited 4/30/2021, 8:17 AM
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