Medieval names and surnames: 200+ real male, female and last names from the Middle Ages

Common real medieval names include William, Robert, John, Henry and Richard for men and Alice, Matilda, Agnes, Joan and Emma for women. Before 1066, English names such as Æthelstan, Edith and Wulfric were typical.

In a Yorkshire record of 1379, the commonest women's names were Alice, Agnes, Joan, Emma, Ellen, Isabel and Margaret, followed by Matilda, Juliana and Cecily. Elsewhere in Europe, medieval women bore names such as Radegund, Berengaria and Douce.

John, William, Thomas, Robert and Richard dominated later medieval England: in one Yorkshire record of 1379, about one man in three was named John. In Scandinavia, Olaf, Erik and Magnus were common, and in Germany Konrad, Otto and Friedrich.

Usually not at first. Most people had a single given name plus a description such as a trade, a place or a father's name. Hereditary surnames became fixed in England during the 13th to 15th centuries.

Medieval surnames came from trades (Fuller, Cartwright, Chaloner), fathers' names (Hobson, Fitzhugh, Pritchard), places (Attwater, Underhill) and nicknames (Read, Doughty). Most became fixed family names between the 13th and 15th centuries.

John, by a long way in later medieval England: in a Yorkshire record of 1379, 555 of about 1,665 men were John. For women, Alice led with 400 of 1,794, ahead of Agnes and Joan.

No. Walter Scott invented it for his novel Ivanhoe in 1819, probably from Cerdic, a semi-legendary founder of Wessex.

Emma (No. 3), Henry (No. 5), William (No. 9), Eleanor (No. 12) and John (No. 23) were all in the US top 25 in 2025. Mabel and Matilda are climbing, while Agnes and Cecily are still rare.