Offa (name)

Wulf (Common Germanic "wolf") was one of the most prolific elements in early Germanic names. It could figure as the first element in dithematic names, as in , but especially as second element, in the form -ulf, -olf as in Cynewulf, Rudolph, Adolph etc., it was extremely common. Förstemann explains this as originally motivated by the wolf as an animal sacred to Wodanaz, but notes that the large number of names indicates that the element had become a meaningless suffix of male names at an early time (and was therefore not anymore considered a "pagan" element at the time of Christianisation. By the tenth century, there was clearly no "pagan" connotation left with such names, and saints and bishops bore names such as Wulfstan or Wolfgang).

Förstemann counts 381 names in -ulf, -olf, among which only four are feminine.

The numerous names in -wulf, -ulf, -olf gave rise to hypocorisms from an early time, which were later also treated as given names in their own right. Among such names are the Anglo-Saxon Offa, Yffe, Uffa, Wuffa. Corresponding continental forms are Uffo, Uffi. The name of the ancient tribe of the Ubii may also be related.

Offa of Angel is a legendary king of the Angles recorded in the 9th-century genealogical tradition of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Most of this tradition is spurious, but in the case of Offa, a case for possible historicity of a 5th-century figure has been made because of a matching account by Saxo Grammaticus. Offa of Essex and Offa of Mercia are two historical Anglo-Saxon kings. Offa of Mercia is said to have had been named Winfreth originally, and to have been the son of an ealdorman named Tingfrith. Because he miraculously recovered from a state of lameness and blindness as a child, he was called "the second Offa", after Offa of Angel, whose legend states that he underwent a similar recovery.

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