Archibald is a masculine given name, composed of the Germanic elements erchan (with an original meaning of "genuine" or "precious" ) and bald meaning "bold". Medieval forms include Old High German Erchambald, Erkanbold, Erkanbald and Anglo-Saxon Eorcenbald. Erkanbald, bishop of Strasbourg (d. 991) was also rendered Archaunbault in Old French. There is also a secondary association of its first element with the Greek prefix archi- meaning "chief, master", to Norman England in the High Middle Ages. The form Archibald became particularly popular among Scottish nobility in the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period, whence usage as a surname is derived by the 18th century, found especially in Scotland and later Nova Scotia.

Given name

English diminutives or hypocorisms include Arch, Archy, Archie, and Baldie. Variants include French Archambault, Archaimbaud, Archenbaud, Archimbaud, Italian Archimboldo, Arcimbaldo, Arcimboldo, Portuguese Arquibaldo, Arquimbaldo and Spanish Archibaldo, Archivaldo. Archibald is used as the anglicization of the (unrelated) Gaelic given name Gille Easbuig (also anglicized as Gillespie). The given name Archibald was comparatively popular in the United States in the late 19th century, peaking at rank 290 in 1890, but it rapidly fell out of fashion in the early 20th century, falling below rank 1,000 in popularity during the 1920s.

Variations

People with given name

Medieval

Early modern

In the late medieval and early modern period, the given name Archibald became popular among Scottish aristocracy in particular. See Archibald Campbell (disambiguation), Archibald Douglas (disambiguation), Archibald Hamilton (disambiguation), Archibald Montgomerie (disambiguation), Archibald Napier (disambiguation), Archibald Primrose (disambiguation) for lists of individuals with these names.

Modern

People with the mononym or pseudonym

Fictional characters with the given name

Surname

Archibald is a modern Anglo-Saxon surname, derived from the given name.

In Renaissance Italy

Arcimboldo or Arcimboldi was used as a surname in Renaissance Italy--see Arcimboldi

In Nova Scotia, Canada

It becomes frequent in Nova Scotia by the later 18th century. Early bearers of the name associated with Nova Scotia include:

In other places

The surname becomes more widespread in the English-speaking world in general during the 19th century: In the UK, Archibald is mostly found as a Scottish surname.

Fictional characters with the surname