Look up Ralph or ralph in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Ralph
GenderMale
Origin
Word/nameOld Norse, Old English
Meaning"Wolf counsel"
Other names
Related namesRaul, Raoul, Ralphie, Rudolph
See alsoRobert, Roland, Roger, Rose, Roderick, Rodney, Raymond

Ralph (pronounced /rælf/ RALF or /reɪf/ RAYF)[1] is a male given name of English origin, derived from the Old English Rædwulf and Old High German Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse Raðulfr (rað "counsel" and ulfr "wolf").[2]

The most common forms are:

  • Ralph, the common variant form in English, which takes either of the given pronunciations.
  • Rafe, variant form which is less common; this spelling is always pronounced /reɪf/, as are all other English spellings without "l".
  • Raife, a very rare variant.
  • Raif, a very rare variant.[3]
  • Ralf, the traditional variant form in Dutch, German, Swedish, and Polish.
  • Ralfs, the traditional variant form in Latvian.
  • Raoul, the traditional variant form in French.
  • Raúl, the traditional variant form in Spanish.
  • Raul, the traditional variant form in Portuguese and Italian.
  • Raül, the traditional variant form in Catalan.
  • Rádhulbh, the traditional variant form in Irish.

Given name

Middle Ages

Modern world

Surname

Fictional characters

See also

References

  1. ↑ "AUE: FAQ excerpt: Words whose spelling has influenced their pronunciation". Alt-usage-english.org. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  2. ↑ Online Etymology Dictionary
  3. ↑ "'H.M.S. Pinafore' at Russell Thursday through Sunday". Archived from the original on 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2008-09-13. Raif Rackstraw from H.M.S. Pinafore
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