Arnold (given name)

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Arnold is a masculine German given name. It is composed of the Germanic elements arn "eagle" and wald "rule, power". The name is first recorded in Francia from about the 7th century, at first often conflated with the name Arnulf, as in the name of bishop Arnulf of Metz, also recorded as Arnoald. Arnulf appears to be the older name (with cognates in Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse), and German (Frankish) Arnold may have originally arisen in c. the 7th century as a corruption of Arnulf, possibly by conflation of similar names such as Hari-wald, Arn-hald, etc.

The name is attested with some frequency in Medieval Germany during the 8th to 11th centuries, as Arnold, Arnalt, Arnald, Arnolt. It was occasionally spelled Harnold, Harnald, and the name may have been conflated with an independent formation containing hari- "host, army". Its etymology ceased to be evident from an early time, and it was sometimes folk-etymologized as Ehrenhold in the early modern period. The French form Arnaud is recorded from the 10th century, and was also brought to England after the Norman conquest, where it replaced the cognate Anglo-Saxon form Earnweald (Doomsday Book Ernehale; Ernaldus 12th century). However, the Anglo-Norman given name did not survive into the modern period (other than in surnames, as Arnall, Arnell), and the German form Arnold was re-introduced in the Anglosphere in the 19th century. In the United States, Arnold had a relative surge of popularity at the beginning of the 20th century, peaking as the 89th most commonly given masculine name in 1916, but it dropped again below rank 200 by the 1950s.

Hypocorisms of the name are: Arent (Arend, Ahrend), Arndt, Arne, Aart (etc.). Regional variants of the name include: French: Arnaud, Arnault, Italian: Arnoldo, Dutch: Arnout, Arnoud, Portuguese: Arnoldo, Spanish: Arnaldo, Catalan: Arnau, Arnald. The German name was also adopted in Old West Norse (14th century), as Arnaldr (Icelandic: Arnaldur).^[1]

Arnold is also recorded as a surname (via a patronymic) from the early modern period. (Cornelius Arnold, b. 1711).

List of people called Arnold

Medieval

• Arnoald (d. 611?)
• Arnold or Arnulf of Metz (died 640)
• Saint Arnulf or Arnold of Soissons (died 1087), patron saint of brewers
• Arnold of Brescia, a 12th-century Augustinian monk
• Arnaud Amalric (died 1225)
• Arnaud Amanieu, Lord of Albret (died 1401)

Modern

• Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901), symbolist Swiss painter
• Saint Arnold Janssen (1837–1909)
• Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951), Austrian-American composer
• Arnold Rothstein (born 1882), American crime figure
• Arnold Franz Brasz (1888–1966), American painter, sculptor, and printmaker
• Arnold Jackson (athlete) (1891–1972), British athlete, British Army officer and barrister
• Arnold Ridley (1896-1984), British playwright and actor
• Arnold Horween (1898–1985), Harvard Crimson All American football player, and NFL football player
• Arnold Jackson (cricketer) (1903–1971), English cricketer
• Arnold Arbeit (1911–1974), American artist and architect
• Arnold Brown (General of The Salvation Army) (1913–2002), 11th General of The Salvation Army
• Arnold Stang (1918–2009), American actor and comedian
• Arnold Rüütel (born 1928), former president of Estonia
• Arnold Palmer (born 1929), American golfer
• Arnold Latman (born 1936), American major league baseball pitcher
• Arnold Krammer (born 1941), American historian
• Arnold Schwarzenegger (born 1947), Austrian-born American bodybuilder, actor, and former Governor of California
• Arnold Vosloo (born 1962), South African-born American actor
• Arnold Frick (born 1966), Liechtenstein judoka
• Arnold Mickens (born 1972), American football player
• Arnold Jackson (American football) (born 1977), former American football player
• Arnold Brown (comedian), Scottish entertainer
• Arnold Manoff (1914-1965), American screenwriter

In fiction

• Arnold (Hey Arnold!), the main character in Hey Arnold! media
• Arnold Jackson, a character in the TV series Diff'rent Strokes
• Arnold, a character in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
• Arnold Rimmer, a character in the TV series Red Dwarf
• Arnold, a character in The Magic School Bus
• Arnold Toht, a character in Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Dr. Arnold Rosen, a neighbor who is friendly with Don and Megan Draper in Mad Men (season 6)
• Arnold Vinick, a character in the TV drama series The West Wing
• Dr. Arnold Wayne, Betty Draper's psychiatrist in Mad Men (season 1)
• Arnold Ziffel, a character in the TV sitcom series Green Acres
• Arnold, the pet dog of Turtle, a character in the TV series Entourage

See also

• Arnold (disambiguation)
• Arnold (surname)
• Arnaud (given name)
• Arnaud (surname)

References

• Förstemann, Ernst (1900). Altdeutsches Namenbuch (3 ed.). Bonn: P. Hanstein, 114–118.