DONALD HENRY

Anglicized form of Gaelic Domhnall. The final -d of the Anglicized form derives partly from misinterpretation by English speakers of the Gaelic pronunciation, and partly from association with Germanic-origin names such as Ronald. This name is strongly associated with clan Macdonald, the clan of the medieval Lords of the Isles, but is now also widely used by families with no Scottish connections.

English and French: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements haim, heim ‘home’ + rīc ‘power’, ‘ruler’, introduced to England by the Normans in the form Henri. During the Middle Ages this name became enormously popular in England and was borne by eight kings. Continental forms of the personal name were equally popular throughout Europe (German Heinrich, French Henri, Italian Enrico and Arrigo, Czech Jindřich, etc.). As an American family name, the English form Henry has absorbed patronymics and many other derivatives of this ancient name in continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.) In the period in which the majority of English surnames were formed, a common English vernacular form of the name was Harry, hence the surnames Harris (southern) and Harrison (northern). Official documents of the period normally used the Latinized form Henricus. In medieval times, English Henry absorbed an originally distinct Old English personal name that had hagan ‘hawthorn’. Compare Hain 2 as its first element, and there has also been confusion with Amery.