Humphrey

English

Etymology

Name of a 9th-century French saint, brought to England by Normans; Proto-Germanic *unnaną (“to grant, bestow”) + *friþuz (“peace”). In Ireland it has been used to Anglicize Irish Amhlaoibh (= Olaf).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhʌmfɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmfɹi

Proper noun

Humphrey

1. A male given name from the Germanic languages.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 121, column 2:

     I neuer ſaw but Humfrey Duke of Gloſter, / Did beare him like a Noble Gentleman: […]

   • 1988, Howard Engel, chapter 6, in A Victim Must Be Found, Markham, Ont.: Viking, →ISBN, page 70:

     "Hump?" I asked. "Humphrey, really. But everybody calls him Hump. I know a lot of people who avoid calling him by his first name. For a long time people didn't think it was quite proper. But nowadays nobody seems to mind. What's happening to the power of words, Benny? Time was I used to blush at the words scrawled on fences, and now I hear them—everywhere. How are writers going to write books if language is going bland on them?"

2. A surname originating as a patronymic.

Derived terms

• Humpty Dumpty
• Sir Humphrey

Anagrams

• Humphery