Henry (given name)

Uncommon card · No. 182000

Henry is a masculine given name derived from Old French Henri or Henry, which is derived from the Old Frankish name Heimeric, from Common Germanic “Haimarīks” (from *haima- "home" and *rīk- "ruler"). In Old High German, the name was conflated with the name Haginrich (from hagin "enclosure" and rich "ruler") 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 most common English feminine forms of the name are Harriet and Henrietta. An Italian variant descended from the Old High German name, Amerigo, was the source from which the continents of the Americas were named. It has been a consistently popular name in English-speaking countries for...

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