Archibald

Where Archibald comes from

From Anglo-Norman Arcebald, Arcenbald or Ercenbald, from Old French Archaunbault, from Proto-West Germanic *Erknabalþ, from *erkn (“pure, holy, genuine, precious”) + *balþ (“strong, bold”). Doublet of Archambault. Compare Latin Archibaldus.
— Wiktionary's entry for Archibald
  • Germanic
  • 3 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1847
    Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery born
    British Liberal politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #325 among boys — 27 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1886
    Archibald Hill born
    English physiologist and biophysicist
  4. 1890
    Peak, #279
    38 babies named Archibald — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1891
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #397.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from the Germanic languages.
Namesakes
  • Archibald Hill · English physiologist and biophysicist, 1886–1977
  • Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery · British Liberal politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1847–1929
  • Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell · British Army general and Viceroy of India, 1883–1950
  • Archibald MacLeish · American poet and Librarian of Congress, 1892–1982
  • Archibald Leitch · British architect, 1865–1939

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.