Meaning & History
Ealdwine is an Old English masculine given name, rarely used after the Norman Conquest. It derives from the Proto-West Germanic *Aldawini, composed of the elements eald 'old' and wine 'friend', thus meaning 'old friend'. The name appears in the West Saxon dialect of Old English, as documented in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and is equivalent to Old High German Aldawin. Its Anglian variant is Aldwine. After the Norman Conquest, Ealdwine fell out of common use due to the influence of Norman French names, but it gave rise to later English forms such as Aldous, Alvin, Elvin, and Aldwin, the last through the Germanic Aldwin. A Welsh descendant is Aldwyn.
Related Names
Sources: Wiktionary — Ealdwine