Derived from the Old English elements ead "wealth, fortune" and gar "spear". This was the name of a 10th-century English king, Edgar the Peaceful. The name did not survive long after the Norman conquest, but it was revived in the 18th century, in part due to a character by this name in Sir Walter Scott's novel 'The Bride of Lammermoor' (1819), which tells of the tragic love between Edgar Ravenswood and Lucy Ashton. Famous bearers include author and poet Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), French impressionist painter Edgar Degas (1834-1917), and author Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950).

A Series of Unfortunate Events characters, Final Fantasy characters, Harry Potter characters, horror, kings, Kings Quest characters, Macross characters, never out of the US top 1000, poets, Stephen King characters, Taboo characters, weapons, Xeno characters

• Elizabeth Gidley Withycombe, The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names (1945)