Harold is an English personal name. The modern name Harold ultimately derives from the Proto-Germanic *harja-waldaz, meaning 'military-power' or 'army-ruler'. The name entered Modern English via the Old English from Hereweald, which retained the same meaning and was prevalent in Anglo-Saxon England. The name's popularity in Viking Age England would also have been bolstered by the use of the Old Norse form Haraldr among Scandinavian settlers in the Danelaw.[3]
 Depiction of the Anglo-Saxon king Harold Godwinson on the Bayeux Tapestry | |
| Gender | Male and one time female |
|---|---|
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Proto-Germanic, via Old English and Old Norse |
| Meaning | Military-Power or Army-Ruler[1] |
| Region of origin | England |
| Other names | |
| Related names | Harald (German and Continental Scandinavian), Haraldur (Icelandic), Haroldo (Spanish, Portuguese), Aroldo (Italian)[2] |
Ancient
edit- Chariovalda (d. 16), Batavian chieftain and Roman ally, killed near the River Weser[4][5]
Medieval
edit- Hagrold (fl. 944–954), also known as Harold, Scandinavian chieftain in Normandy
- Harold Harefoot, or Harold I (c. 1015–1040), King of England from 1035 to 1040
- Harold Godwinson, or Harold II (c. 1022–1066), the last Anglo-Saxon king of England and Earl of Wessex
- Harold, son of Harold Godwinson (fl. 1067–1098)
- Mstislav-Harald I Monomakh Grand Prince of Kyiv (1076–1132), grandson of Harold Godwinson, son of his daughter Gytha of Wessex
- Harold of Gloucester (died 1168), supposed child martyr and saint, allegedly murdered by Jews
- Harald Fairhair (850-932), the first King of Norway
- Arioald, king of the Lombards
Modern name
edit- Harold Abrahams, British Olympic champion sprinter and subject of Chariots of Fire
- Harold Achor (1907–1967), Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court
- Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, British Army officer who served with distinction in both the First World War and the Second World War and, afterwards, as Governor General of Canada, the 17th since Canadian Confederation
- Harold Arroyo, Puerto Rican boxer
- Harold Bailey (gridiron football) (born 1957), American football player
- Harold Walter Bailey (1899–1996), British linguist
- Harold Baines (born 1959), American baseball player
- Harold Baker (photographer) (1860–1942), British photographer
- Harold Baker (politician) (1877–1960), British politician, Financial Secretary to the War Office 1912–1915
- H. A. Baker (1881–1971), American author and Pentecostal missionary
- Harold Baker (cricketer) (1884–1954), English cricketer
- Shorty Baker (1914–1966), American jazz musician
- Harold Baker (judge) (born 1929), federal judge on United States District Courts in Illinois
- George Harold Baker (1877–1916), lawyer, political figure, and soldier from Quebec, Canada
- Harold Brooks-Baker (1933–2005), American-British financier, journalist, and publisher, and self-proclaimed expert on genealogy
- Harold Bekkering (born 1965), Dutch cognitive psychologist
- Harold Bloom, American literary critic
- Harold Budd (1936–2020), American composer and poet
- Harold Cobert (born 1974), French writer
- Harold Craxton (1885–1971), British composer and pianist
- Harold Camping (1921–2013), President of Family Radio
- Hal Daub (born 1941), American politician
- Harold Danko (born 1947), American jazz pianist
- Harold Demsetz (1930–2019), American economist
- Harold de Soysa (1907–1971), first indigenous Anglican Bishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Harold Diamond (1926–1982), American art dealer
- Harold Ely (1909–1983), American football player
- Harold Faltermeyer (born 1952), German musician
- Harold Fannin (born 2004), American football player
- Harold H. Fisher, (1901–2005), American church architect
- Harold Ford Jr., U.S. Congressman, candidate for U.S. Senate
- Harold Frost (1921–2004), American orthopedist and surgeon
- Harold Goldsmith (1930–2004), American fencer
- Harold "Red" Grange (1903-1991), American football player
- Harold Hart (born 1952), American football player
- Harold Helgeson (1931–2007), American geochemist
- Harold Herath (1930–2007), Sri Lanka Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1991-1993
- Hal Holbrook (1925–2021), American actor
- Harold Holt, Australian Prime Minister
- Harold Holt (impresario), South African-English impresario
- Harold Houser, American admiral and 35th Governor of American Samoa
- Harold Guy Hunt (1933–2009), American politician
- Hal Jeffcoat (1924–2007), American baseball player
- Harold George Jeffcoat (born 1947), American academic
- Harold A. Jerry Jr. (1920–2001), New York politician
- Harold Keller (1921–1979), American Marine and Iwo Jima flag raiser
- Harold La Borde, Trinidadian circumnavigator
- Harold Landry (born 1996), American football player
- Hal Lindsey (born 1929), American evangelist and Christian writer
- Harold Lloyd, American film actor
- Harold C. Luther (1915–1973), New York politician
- Harold MacMichael (1882–1969), British Colonial administrator
- Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of Great Britain
- Hal Malchow (1951–2024), political consultant
- Harold C. Marden (1900–1994), American lawyer and judge
- Harold McCartney, English rugby player
- Harold B. Minor (1902–1984), American diplomat
- Harold A. Moise (1879–1958), associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court
- Harold James Nicholson, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer and a twice-convicted spy for Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)
- Harold Nicolson, British diplomat, author, diarist, and politician
- Harold Norse, American poet
- Harold I. Panken (1910–1999), New York state senator
- Harold Peiris (1904–1988), Sri Lankan Sinhala lawyer, author, scholar, teacher, and philanthropist
- Harold Perrineau, American actor
- Harold Pinter (1930–2008), British playwright
- Harold Prince (1928–2019), American theatrical producer and director
- Harold Ramis (1944–2014), American film actor, director, writer and producer
- Harold Reynolds (disambiguation), multiple people
- Harold S. Roise (1916–1991), American Marine officer, double Navy Cross recipient
- Harold G. Schrier (1916–1971), American Marine officer and Iwo Jima flag raiser
- Harold Schultz (1925–1995), American Marine and Iwo Jima flag raiser
- Harold Shipman (1946-2004), British general practitioner and serial killer
- Harold Seymour (1910–1992), American baseball historian
- Harold Solomon (born 1952), American tennis player
- Harold St. John (1892-1991), American botanist
- Harold St. John Loyd Winterbotham (1879–1946), British surveyor and soldier
- Hal Steinbrenner (born 1969), principal owner, managing general partner and co-chairman of the New York Yankees baseball franchise
- Harold Syrett (1913–1984), American executive editor of The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, and president of Brooklyn College
- J. E. Harold Terry, English novelist, playwright, actor and critic
- Harold Tucker, Lord Mayor of Manchester, England, from 1984–1985
- Harold I. Tyler (1901–1967), New York assemblyman
- Harold R. Tyler Jr. (1922–2005), federal judge in New York
- Harold Urey (1893–1981), American physical chemist
- Hal B. Wallis (1898–1986), American film producer
- Harold Walker (disambiguation), several people
- Harold Washington, first African-American mayor of Chicago
- Harold Weed, digital artist
- Harold E. Weeks, American politician
- Harold Wellman (1909–1999), New Zealand geologist
- Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister
- Harold Wren (1921–2016), American dean of three law schools
- Harold "Butch" Wynegar (born 1956), baseball player
- Harold Zent (1900–1951), member of the Washington House of Representatives
Fictional characters
edit- Harold the Helicopter, a character from the British television series Thomas and Friends
- Harold, from Carl The Collector
- Healthy Harold, an Australian Giraffe sock puppet early educating Australian primary school children
- Harold Allnut, from the Batman comic series
- Harold Berman, from the Nickelodeon animated series Hey Arnold!
- Harold Bishop, from the Australian soap opera Neighbours
- Harold Buttowski, from the Disney XD animated series Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil
- Harold Chasen, from the film American black-comedy and drama Harold and Maude
- Harold Foster, a multibillionaire Australian newspaper company chairman from Anthony Horowitz's Power of Five series
- Harold Green, Red Green's nephew on The Red Green Show
- Harold Hill, from the musical and movie The Music Man
- Harold Hutchins, a main character in the Captain Underpants book series
- Harold "Hal" Jordan, a fictional DC Comics superhero known as Green Lantern
- Harold "Stretch" Joseph, an antagonist from the video game Grand Theft Auto V
- Harold Lauder, from Stephen King's The Stand
- Harold Lee, from American film series Harold & Kumar
- Harold "Happy" Loman, from the American stage play Death of a Salesman
- Harold McBride, a supporting character from the animated series The Loud House
- Harold Saxon, an alias of The Master from the British science-fiction series Doctor Who
- Harold Smith, from the 1990s television drama Twin Peaks
- Judge Harold "Harry" T. Stone in the TV series Night Court
- Harold SquarePants, SpongeBob's father and Margaret’s husband from American television series SpongeBob SquarePants
- Harold Norbert Cheever Doris McGrady V, from the Canadian animated series Total Drama
- Harold, from the Cartoon Network animated series The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
- Harold, from the British television series Thomas & Friends
- Harold, from the animated musical All Dogs Go to Heaven
- Harold, a character from the animated Pixar film Elemental
- Harold, a character played by Bill Murray in the 1993 crime comedy-drama film Mad Dog and Glory
- Harold and the Purple Crayon from the children's books by Crockett Johnson
- Hide the Pain Harold, a fictional identity in meme images based on photos of Hungarian engineer András Arató
- King Harold of Far Far Away, from the films Shrek 2 (2004) and Shrek the Third (2007)
- Childe Harold, from the Byron poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Patrick Hanks, Kate Hardcastle , and Flavia Hodges, eds., A Dictionary of First Names, 2 ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 157.
- ^ "Meaning, origin and history of the name Harold".
- ^ Patrick Hanks, Kate Hardcastle , and Flavia Hodges, eds., A Dictionary of First Names, 2 ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 157.
- ^ Kakoschke, Andreas (2021). Die Personennamen in den römischen Provinzen Germania inferior und Germania superior. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 621. ISBN 9783946317814.
- ^ Yonge, Charlotte Mary (1884). History of Christian Names. United Kingdom: Macmillian & Company. p. 476.
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