Henry (given name)

Henry is an English male given name and surname derived from Old French Henri/Henry, itself derived from the Middle High German name Heinrich, from Old High German Haimirich (from haim- "home" and rich "ruler"),^[1] which was conflated with the name Haginrich (from hagin "enclosure" and rich "ruler").^[2]

The Old High German name is recorded from the 8th century, in the variants Haimirich, Haimerich, Heimerich, Hemirih.^[3] Harry, its English short form, was considered the "spoken form" of Henry in medieval England. Most English kings named Henry were called Harry. The name became so popular in England that the phrase "Tom, Dick, and Harry" began to be used to refer to men in general. The common English feminine forms of the name are Harriet and Henrietta.

Henry has been a consistently popular name in English-speaking countries for centuries. It was among the top 100 most popular names used for boys born in the United States, England and Wales, and in Australia in 2007. It was the 46th most common name for boys and men in the United States in the 1990 census.^[4] Harry, its short form, was the fifth most popular name for boys in England and Wales in 2007 and among the top 50 names in Ireland, Scotland and Northern Ireland in recent years. Harry was ranked as the 578th most popular name in the United States in 2007.^[5]

Masculine variants

In the High Middle Ages, the German name was Latinized as Henricus. It was a royal name in Germany, France and England throughout the high medieval period (Henry I of Germany, Henry I of England, Henry I of France) and widely used as a given name; as a consequence, many regional variants developed in the languages of Western and Central Europe:^[6]

Within German, Low German and Franconian, numerous diminutives and abbreviated forms exist, including Low German, Dutch and Frisian Heike, Heiko; Dutch Hein, Heintje; Low German Hinrich, High German Heiner, Heinz. The High German diphthong was lost in Low German and Dutch Hendrik (hypocoristics Henk, Hennie, Rik), Scandinavian Henrik^[7] (whence Henning).

Other languages under the influence of German (as the main language of the Holy Roman Empire) during the medieval period: Polish Henryk, Czech Jindřich, Hynek. Hungarian, Slovene, Croatian Henrik Finnish Henrikki (hypocoristic Heikki), Lithuanian Henrikas, Lithuanian Herkus.

The French form Henri became productive in the British Isles, in Middle English adopted as Harry , Herry. Herry was adopted into Welsh as Perry. in Irish as Annraoi, Anraí, Einrí, in Scottish as Eanraig, Eanruig.

In Southern Europe variants without the initial /h/ include Italian Arrigo, Enrico, Catalan Enric and Spanish Enrique (whence Basque Endika), and from the German variant Heinz Italian Enzo

Henri (French), Enrique (Spanish), Henrique (Portuguese), (nickname), (Scandinavian), Henryk (Polish), Jindřich (Czech), Heinz (German), Hendrik (Dutch), Heinrich (German), Enrico (Italian), Enzo (Italian)

A separate variant, which may originate with the Old High German name Haimirich, but possibly conflated with the names Ermenrich (first element ermen "whole") or Amalric (first element amal "vigour, bravery") is Emmerich. Emmerich is the origin of a separate suit of variant names used across Western and Central Europe, although these never rose to the ubiquity of the variants of Henry; they include English Emery Amery, Emory, French Émeric, Hungarian Imre, Imrus, Slovak Imrich, Italian Amerigo and Iberian (Portuguese, Spanish, Galician) Américo, etc.

Feminine variants

Several variants of Heinrich have given name to derived feminine given names; Low German Henrik, Hendrik gave rise to Henrike, Hendrike, Hendrikje, Hendrina, Henrika etc. Low German Heiko to Heike Italian Enrico gave rise to Enrica ( Enrika, Enriqua) Spanish Enriquo to Enriqueta, Enriquetta, Enriquette. French Henri gave rise to Henriette, Henrietta, further modified to Enrieta, Enrietta English Harry to Harriet, Harriett, Harrietta, Harriette, hypocorisms Hattie, Hatty, Hettie, Etta, Ettie; various other hypocorisms include Hena, Henna, Henah, Heni, Henia, Henny, Henya, Henka, Dutch Jet, Jetta, Jette, Ina; Polish Henryka, Henia, Heniusia, Henka, Henryczka, Henryka, Henrysia, Rysia. The hypocorisms Rika, Rike (etc.) may be from this or other names with the second element -ric. Spanish and Portuguese América from the Emmerich variant Amérigo .

Surnames

Harrison (surname), Henson (surname), Harris (surname), Heaney (Irish surname), Heinz (German surname), Hendrick (surname), Hendricks (surname), Hendrickx, Hendrik (given name), Hendriks, Hendrikx, Hendrix (surname), Hendryx.

People with the given name

Medieval

• Henry the Fowler (876–936), first German King
• Henry, Bishop of Uppsala (died 1150), Bishop of Uppsala. He became a martyr in Finland
• Henry of Coquet (died 1127), a hermit Dane and Catholic saint. He lived on the island of Coquet, off Northumberland, England.
• Henry I the Bearded (ca. 1165/70 – 19 March 1238), High Duke of Poland
• Henry de Audley (1175–1246), English baron
• Henry of Livonia (born 1180), Catholic priest. Author of Chronicle of Henry of Livonia one of the earliest histories of the Eastern Baltic
• Henry the Navigator (1394–1460), responsible for the early development of European exploration and maritime trade with other continents.

Early modern

• Henry Harcourt (Jesuit) (1612–1673), English Jesuit
• Henry Every (born c. 1653), British pirate. Made one of the richest plunders in sea history and then retired and vanished
• Henry Purcell (1659–95), English composer
• Henry Clay (1777–1852), American/Kentucky statesman. A presidential candidate, compromiser, pacifier, War Hawk and founder of the Whig Party
• Henry Roxby Beverley (1790–1863), English actor
• Henry Parker Sartwell (1792–1867), American botanist

Modern

• Henry Francis Bryan (1865–1944), 17th Governor of American Samoa
• Henry Aaron (born 1934), American baseball player.
• Henry Allingham (1896–2009), briefly world's oldest man
• Henry Bethard (born 1924), American lawyer and former state legislator
• Henry G. Brinton (born 1960), American author and pastor. Contributor to the Washington Post, USA Today, and author of a few books
• Henry Cárdenas (born 1965), Colombian road cyclist
• Henry Cavill (born 1983), British actor
• Henry Collins (boxer) (born 1977), Australian boxer
• Henry Cooper (boxer) (1934–2011), British boxer. Was the British, European and Commonwealth heavyweight champion in 1970
• Henry Duhamel (1853–1917), French mountaineer, author and skiing pioneer
• Henry Flagler (1830–1913), American tycoon, real estate promoter, railroad developer, known as the father of Miama, Florida
• Henry Fonda (1905–1982), American actor. Acted in 115 films, with another 73 as himself and 16 Broadway shows
• Henry Ford (1863–1947), American industrialist; father of the modern assembly line, Ford Motor Company and 161 patents
• Hank Greenberg (1911–1986), American Hall of Fame baseball player. A premier power hitter and one of the first Jewish superstars in American pro sports
• Henry Harcourt (1873–1933), British politician
• Henry Hathaway (1898–1985), American film director
• Henry Hudson (born c. 1560s/70s), English sea explorer
• Henry Hynoski (born 1988), American football player
• Henry Hynoski, Sr. (born 1953), American football player
• Henry James (1843–1916), American author
• Henry Kelly (born 1946), Irish television presenter and radio DJ
• Henry Kissinger (born 1923), German-born American politician
• Henry Louis Larsen (1890–1962), United States Marine Corps general; Governor of American Samoa and Governor of Guam
• Henry Lau (born 1989), Chinese singer, dancer and violinist in the Chinese boy band Super Junior-M
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82), American poet
• Henry Mancini (1924–94), American composer
• Henry Marsh (athlete) (born 1954), American long-distance runner
• Henry Menzies (1867–1938), Scottish rugby union player
• Henry Miller (1891–1980), American author
• Henry Moore (1898-1986), English sculptor and artist
• Henry Obst (1906–1975), American football player
• Henry Orth (1866–1946), American architect
• Henry Orth (American football) (1897–1980), American football player
• Henry Parayre (1879-1970), French sculptor
• Henry Perera, 8th Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy
• Henry Bertram Price, Governor of Guam
• Henry Rollins (born 1961), American singer
• Henry Schichtle (born 1941), American football player
• Henry Speight (born 1988), Australian rugby union player
• Henry Surtees (1991–2009), British racing driver
• Henry Sugut (born 1985), Kenyan long-distance runner
• Henry David Thoreau (1817–62), American author
• Prince Harry (born 1984; formally Prince Henry of Wales), British prince and military officer
• Henry Winkler (born 1945), American actor and producer

Fictional characters

• Henry, the main protagonist of the 2015 film Hardcore Henry
• Henry, a persona or character from John Berryman's Dream Songs
• Henry the Green Engine, a steam locomotive from The Railway Series of books by Reverend W. Awdry
• Henry Gupta, character from the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies
• Henry Huggins, a character created by Beverly Cleary
• Henry Higgins, a major character in George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion and also in the musical adaptation My Fair Lady
• Henry Hugglemonster, a character from Henry Hugglemonster
• Henry Jekyll, title character in the Robert Louis Stevenson novelThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr. (Indiana Jones), the title character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise
• Horrid Henry, the main character from the series Horrid Henry
• Henry Keddys, minor character in Chris Lilley's mockumentary series Angry Boys
• Henry, a character from the 2008 video game No More Heroes
• Henry J. Waternoose, a character from Monsters, Inc.
• Henry Bennett, the main character in American author Mark Twain's 1889 novel titled A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
• Henry, a character from the television show, KaBlam!
• Henry (comic), a comic character that began in 1932
• Henry Pym (aka Ant Man, Giant Man, Goliath, and Yellowjacket), fictional character in the Marvel Universe
• Henry Rearden, steelmaker from the Ayn Rand book Atlas Shrugged
• Henry Baker, a character from the 2003 film Cheaper by the Dozen and its sequel
• Henry Townshend, the main protagonist in the game Silent Hill 4
• Uncle Henry, character from the Oz books by L. Frank Baum
• Henry and Orville, the second pair of ghosts that Luigi encounters in Luigi's Mansion, and, since counted as one ghost, they are the 14th ghost Luigi encounters
• Horrid Henry, fictional character and children' comedy TV show
• Henry Deacon, fictional character from the TV series Eureka
• Henry Mills, a primary character from the TV series Once Upon a Time
• Henry Middleton, an English teacher from a Malaysian TV series Oh My English
• Henry I, other character from the TV series Once Upon a Time
• Henry "Hank" MacDougall (played by Fred Willard), the pious father-in-law of Robert Barone, from the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.
• Henry F. Potter the main villain from It's A Wonderful Life
• Lord Henry Wotton from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is referred to as "Harry".
• Henery Hawk, Warner Bros. Looney Tunes character.
• Henry Clerval from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Henry "Hank" Zipzer, from the TV series Hank Zipzer
• Henry the Octopus, a character from The Wiggles

Notes