Henry (given name)


Henry is an English male given name derived from Old French Henri / Henry, itself derived from the Old Frankish name Heimeric, from Common Germanic *Haimarīks. In Old High German, the name was conflated with the name Haginrich to form Heinrich.
The Old High German name is recorded from the 8th century, in the variants Haimirich, Haimerich, Heimerich, Hemirih. Harry, its English short form, was considered the "spoken form" of Henry in medieval England. Most English kings named Henry were called Harry. The name became so popular in England that the phrase "Tom, Dick, and Harry" began to be used to refer to men in general. The common English feminine forms of the name are Harriet and Henrietta.
It has been a consistently popular name in English-speaking countries for centuries. It was among the top 100 most popular names used for boys born in the United States, England and Wales, and in Australia in 2007. It was the 46th most common name for boys and men in the United States in the 1990 census. Harry, its short form, was the fifth most popular name for boys in England and Wales in 2007 and among the top 50 names in Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland in recent years. Harry was ranked as the 578th most popular name in the United States in 2007.
Its variant, Amerigo, was the source from which the continents of Americas were named.

In different languages

In the High Middle Ages, the name was Latinized as Henricus. It was a royal name in Germany, France and England throughout the high medieval period and widely used as a given name; as a consequence, many regional variants developed in the languages of Western and Central Europe:
Within German, Low German, Frisian and Dutch, numerous diminutives and abbreviated forms exist, including Low German, Dutch and Frisian Heike, Heiko; Dutch Hein, Heintje; German Heiner, Heinz.
The original diphthong was lost in Dutch Hendrik, Scandinavian Henrik.
Eastern European languages under the influence of German and the Scandinavian languages during the medieval period have developed native forms:
Polish Henryk, Czech Jindřich, Hynek.
Hungarian, Slovene, Croatian Henrik
Finnish Henrikki, Lithuanian Henrikas, Lithuanian Herkus.
The French form Henri became productive in the British Isles, in Middle English adopted as Harry, Herry. Herry was adopted into Welsh as Perry, in Irish as Annraoi, Anraí, Einrí and in Scottish Gaelic as Eanraig, Eanruig.
In Southern Europe variants without the initial /h/ include Italian Arrigo, Enrico, Catalan Enric and Spanish Enrique and Italian Enzo.
A separate variant, which may originate with the Old High German name Haimirich, but possibly conflated with
the names Ermenrich or Amalric is Emmerich.
Emmerich is the origin of a separate suit of variant names used across Western and Central Europe, although these never rose to the ubiquity of the variants of Henry; they include English Emery Amery, Emory, French Émeric,
Hungarian Imre, Imrus, Slovak Imrich, Italian Amerigo and Iberian Américo, etc.

Feminine variants

Several variants of Heinrich have given name to derived feminine given names;
Low German Henrik, Hendrik gave rise to Henrike, Hendrike, Hendrikje, Hendrina, Henrika etc.
Low German Heiko to Heike
Italian Enrico gave rise to Enrica Spanish Enrique to Enriqueta, Enriquetta, Enriquette.
French Henri gave rise to Henriette, Henrietta, further modified to Enrieta, Enrietta
English Harry to Harriet, Harriett, Harrietta, Harriette, hypocorisms Hattie, Hatty, Hettie, Etta, Ettie; various other hypocorisms include Hena, Henna, Henah, Heni, Henia, Henny, Henya, Henka, Dutch Jet, Jett, Jetta, Jette, Ina; Polish Henryka, Henia, Heniusia, Henka, Henryczka, Henrysia, Rysia.
The hypocorisms Rika, Rike may be from this or other names with the second element -ric.
Spanish and Portuguese América from the Emmerich variant Amérigo.

Surnames

, Henson, Harris, Heaney, Fitzhenry, Heinz, Enríquez, Henriques,
Hendrick,
Hendricks,
Hinrichs,
Hendrickx,
Hendriks,
Hendrikx,
Hendrix,
Hendryx.

People with the given name

Royalty