What is the English name equiv of Hakon? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by cheese_greater@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca

4 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Norweigan name

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 2 points 4 weeks ago

Acc. to Wiktionary the etymology of the Old Norse ancestor of this name is disputed, and it could be either

from ON hár "high". It's a cognate to Old English hēah → Modern English high.
from Proto-Germanic *hanhaz "horse" + ON konr "descendant". That "konr" is cognate to English "king".

I don't think there's any good native equivalent for either. English ditched a lot of native names, as they became increasingly associated with pagans, in preference to Classical and French names (as they were "more Christian").

this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2026

4 points (100.0% liked)

No Stupid Questions

3981 readers

5 users here now

There is no such thing as a Stupid Question!

Don't be embarrassed of your curiosity; everyone has questions that they may feel uncomfortable asking certain people, so this place gives you a nice area not to be judged about asking it. Everyone here is willing to help.

ex. How do I change oil
ex. How to tie shoes
ex. Can you cry underwater?

Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca still apply!

Thanks for reading all of this, even if you didn't read all of this, and your eye started somewhere else, have a watermelon slice 🍉.

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

admin@lemmy.ca