Elvis (name)

Elvis is a male given name. It is an anglicisation of the Irish name of Saint Ailbe (d. 528).[2] The saint was also a popular figure in medieval Wales, where he was claimed to be of British origin,[3] in which case the Irish name Ailbe might be gaelicisation of an Ancient British name ancestral to modern Welsh Eilfyw or Eilfw.[4]

Elvis
Gendermasculine
Name day12 September[1]
Origin
Word/nameIrish or Welsh
Meaningunknown
Other names
Related namesEilfyw, Eilfw, Ailbe, Ailbhe, Alby, Albeus, Alibeus, Elwen, Elvan
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Etymology
Further information: Ailbe of Emly § The name "Ailbe"

The etymology of the name is unknown, and it is uncertain whether the name should be considered Irish (Gaelic) or British (Welsh) or Scandinavian (Old Norse) in origin. A folk etymology is suggested in the Vita Albei, as a derivative of ail "a rock" and beo "living".[5] A sporadic association of the saint's name with rocks has been observed, as in the Lia Ailbe ("stone of Ailbe") on the Magh Ailbe (plain of Ailbe), in Sliabh Ailbe "Mount Ailbe" in Duanaire Finn.[6] and maybe in Inbher Ailbhine mentioned in Tirechan's Vita Patricii.[7] Other possibilities involve derivation from the root albh- "white", which is found in the names of a number of Celtic deities (including a possible Albius recorded in a single inscription from Aignay-le Duc),[8] or alternively from Insular Celtic albi(i̭)o- "world" (Welsh elfydd "world, land",[9] or alternatively from the surname Elwes.[10]

The name may be derived from the Scandinavian Old Norse word Alviss which in Norse mythology means “all-wise”.

The name may be related or identical to Elwen, Elvan, the name of a poorly attested saint or saints venerated in early medieval Cornwall and Brittany.

In medieval French sources, the unrelated homograph Elvis occurs as a feminine name, a variant of Helvis, Aluysa, Alaisa, from a Germanic name such as Alwis.[11]

Usage

The name most commonly refers to American singer and actor Elvis Presley (1935–1977). Earlier bearers of the name include American college administrator Elvis Jacob Stahr, Jr. (1916–1998, born the same year as Elvis Presley's father, Vernon Elvis Presley).[12] In most cases, however, it refers to people who have the name as a tribute to Elvis Presley. People in this latter group includes those who took the name themselves (with UK-born singer and songwriter Elvis Costello being an example), and those who were named Elvis by their parents.

People with the name

Musicians

Athletes (association football)

Athletes (other sports)

Other

Fictional characters

References
  1. historically also 13 September and 27 February, "Saint Elvis" in Terry Breverton's Wales: A Historical Companion, pp. 164 f. Amberley Publishing (Stroud), 2009.
  2. Iseabail Macleod and Terry Freedman, The Wordsworth Dictionary of First Names: A Concise and Useful Guide to the Origins and Meanings of Over 2000 Names (Ware: Wordsworth, 1995), p. 68; Leslie Dunkling and William Gosling, Everyman's Dictionary of First Names, 3rd edn (London: Dent, 1991), pp. 82-83.
  3. "Saint Elvis" in Terry Breverton's Wales: A Historical Companion, pp. 164 f. Amberley Publishing (Stroud), 2009.
  4. Plummer, Charles (1968) [1910]. Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae [Lives of the Saints of Ireland] (2nd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon. p. 46 ff., vol. 1.
  5. Baring-Gould and Fisher (1907), "The Lives of the British Saints" Vol I, p. 130
  6. II, 95, xlii in MacNeill, Eoin and Murphy, Gerard (1908-54) Duanaire Finn, 3 vols, Irish Texts Society 7, 28, 43.
  7. Watson, W.J. (1926) "The Celtic Place Names of Scotland", Edinburgh/London, p. 469, note 1.
  8. Lajoye, Patrice & Crombet, Pierre, (2016) "Encyclopédie de l'Arbre Celtique" s.v Albius, retrieved 25 August 2016.  ; Beck op.cit: 4, III, B, 1) c)
  9. In fact this root has been argued to be related to the root albho- 'white, bright', see Meid, Wolfgang (1990) "Über Albion, elfydd, Albiorix, und andere Indikatoren eine keltischen Weltbildes" in M.J. Ball, J, Fife, E, Poppe and J.Rowland, ed. Celtic Linguistics: Readings in the Brythonic Languages, Festschrift for T. Arwyn Watkins, Amsterdam/ Philadelphia.
  10. Patrick Hanks; Richard Coates; Peter McClure (2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland. p. 835. ISBN 978-0199677764.
  11. Mémoires de la Société bourguignonne de géographie et d'histoire 5 (1887), p. 481; Elvis d'Epoisses (died c. 1252), wife of André de Montbard.
  12. "Elvis Presley roots in Scotland". Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
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