Hedwig (name)

Hedwig is a German feminine given name, from Old High German Hadwig, Hadewig, Haduwig. It is a Germanic name consisting of the two elements hadu "battle, combat" and wig "fight, duel".

The name is on record since the 9th century, with Haduwig, a daughter of Louis the German. The name remained popular in German high nobility during the 10th and 11th centuries. Other medieval spellings include Hathuwic, Hathewiga, Hadewich, Hadewic, Hathwiga, Hadwich, Hatwig, Hadwig, Hediwig, Hedewiga, Hedewich, Hedewiih, Hatuuih, Hetvic, Haduwich, Hadawich, Hatuwig, etc. Forms such as Hadiwih, Hadewi etc. suggest that the name is the result of a conflation of two separate names, one with the second element wig "fight", the other with the second element wih "hallowed".[1]

The Dutch form is Hadewych (Hadewijch). A German and Dutch diminutive is Hedy. The German name was adopted into Swedish in about the 15th century and is still in use in Swedish, and to a lesser extent in Danish and Norwegian, in the spelling Hedvig, with a diminutive Hedda.[2] Finnish forms of name are Heta and Helvi. The German name was adopted into Polish, as Jadwiga. A French form is Edwige (not to be confused with the unrelated Anglo-Saxon Eadwig, Edwig).

People named Hedwig

Medieval
  • Hedwige of Saxony (910–965), German noblewoman and mother of Hugh Capet, King of France
  • Hedwig of Nordgau (ca. 922–ca. 993), wife of Siegfried of Luxembourg, first Count of Luxembourg.
  • Hedwig of France (970–1013), Countess of Mons
  • Saint Hedwig of Silesia (1174–1243), Duchess of Silesia, canonized 1267; see also Hedwig Codex
  • Hedwig of Habsburg (d. ca. 1285/86), daughter of Rudolph I of Germany and his first wife, Gertrude of Hohenburg
  • Hedwig of Holstein (1260–1324), Swedish queen consort, spouse of King Magnus III of Sweden
  • Saint Hedwig of Poland (1373–1399), daughter of Louis I of Hungary and ruling queen of Poland

Renaissance and early modern periods

Modern era

Fictional characters
gollark: I mean, anyone behind you could see what's on the screen, and you wouldn't be able to see stuff against some backgrounds.
gollark: Oh, I don't think those are a great design either, honestly, but it would be... cool, briefly.
gollark: Still, weirdly shaped ones *do*, as far as I know, cost more to manufacture.
gollark: Or at least avoid rendering there, I guess? Still, you're right, it's probably not significant.
gollark: They have to do extra work to deal with the cutout bit.

References
  1. Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch (1900:647).
  2. nordicnames.de, citing Kristoffer Kruken and Ola Stemshaug, Norsk Personnamnleksikon (1995); Eva Brylla, Förnamn i Sverige (2004).

See also
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