| Gender | Masculine |
|---|---|
| Language(s) | English, Old French, Old Occitan |
| Origin | |
| Language(s) | West Germanic, Old Norse, Gothic |
| Word/name | Raginolf / Raginulf / Reginúlfr / Ramnulf / Ramnolf |
| Derivation | ragin / reginn or hrabns + ulf / úlfr / wulfs |
| Meaning | "advice", "decision" or "raven" + "wolf" |
Ranulf was a masculine given name in Old French and Old Occitan, and is a masculine given name in the English language. Ranulf was introduced into England by the Norman conquest or alternatively is said to have been introduced to Scotland and northern England, by Scandinavian settlers in Early Middle Ages.[1] However, most earliest historical figures with this name originated on the continent. It is derived from the West Germanic name Raginulf, Raginolf.[2] This West Germanic personal name is composed of two elements: the first, RAGN > ragin, means "advice", "decision" ;[2] the second element, (w)ulf / (w)olf, means "wolf".[2] or alternatively the Old Norse name Reginúlfr is based on the Old Norse variant forms reginn and úlfr.[1] The Old Occitan anthroponym Ranulf (Ramnulf, Rannulf) does not contain exactly the same first element, but hram, short form of Gothic hrabns "raven".[3]
People with the name
- Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester and 1st Earl of Lincoln (1170 – 1232), Anglo-Norman baron
- Ranulf de Briquessart (or Ranulf the Viscount) (1050 - c. 1089 or soon after), 11th-century Norman magnate and viscount.
- Ranulf de Vains (Ranulf the Moneyer) (circa 1015 - ?), Norman knight, around 1035 in Domesday Book
- Ranulf I de Soules, Norman knight who came to Scotland with David I
- Ranulf le Meschin, 3rd Earl of Chester (1070–1129), Norman magnate based in northern and central England.
- Ranulf I of Aquitaine (Ramnulf, Rannulf see Ramnulfids) (820–866), count of Poitiers, duke of Aquitaine
- Ranulf II of Aquitaine (850 – 890), count of Poitiers, duke of Aquitaine
- Ranulf II, Count of Alife (? - 1139), Italo-Norman magnate
- Rainulf Trincanocte (1045–1048), third Italo-Norman count of Aversa
- Ranulf de Broc (died c. 1179), Anglo-Norman nobleman and royal marshall
- Ranulf Compton, United States Representative from Connecticut
- Rainulf Drengot, Norman adventurer and the first count of Aversa
- Ranulf Flambard (c. 1060 – 1128), Norman bishop of Durham
- Ranulph de Gernon, 2nd Earl of Chester (1099–1153), Anglo-Norman baron
- Ranulf de Glanvill (? - 1190), Anglo-Norman chief Justiciar of England
- Ranulf Higdon (or Higden) (c. 1280 – 1364), English chronicler and a Benedictine monk
- Ranulf of Wareham (? - 1222), English bishop of Chichester
- Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, English adventurer
Fictional characters with the name
- Ranulf, character in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and its sequel, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
- Ranulf, an additional natural son of Henry I of England in Sharon Kay Penman's Plantagenet series. The meticulous research for which Penman is noted extends to the names of minor characters. Completely fictional characters in her books are rare and are always identified in her author's notes. They serve as devices to illustrate aspects of medieval life, to reveal information, or to bridge gaps in knowledge, especially when such revelations would be out of character for the historical figures in her novels.[4]
References
- 1 2 Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Reference of Oxford Paperback (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 226, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1 (read online)
- 1 2 3 Nordic Names : Raginolf (read online)
- ↑ Marie-Thérèse Morlet, "Études d'anthroponymie occitane : les noms de personne de l’obituaire de Moissac (suite)" in Revue internationale d'onomastique, 1958, 10-1, p. 44 (read online)
- ↑ Penman, Sharon Kay. "Ranulf vs Richard," 5 May 2009. Author's blog article accessed at <http://sharonkaypenman.com/blog/?p=48> 14 July 2013.