Waldemar

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Waldemar , minor form Woldemar , is a male given name . He comes from the North Germanic language area.

Origin of name

The name is derived from the words forest-a ( proto-Germanic "exercise" for, "rule") and mǣrja (essentially Germanic for "famous", "known"). In this case, forest-a turn to the Indo-European root val recycled see. Latin valere for "be strong", "apply", "mean". And mǣrja is said to have originated from the comparative mē-r to mē- (Indo-European for “large”), cf. Irish Inis Mór ("big island") and German "Meerrettich" (actually "big root").

This means that the name Waldemar / Valdemar used in Germanic languages and the first name Wladimir (Vladimir) ("great in his power"), which is common in Slavic languages , are etymologically very close to one another. This translation is controversial, however, because Vladimir is composed of the terms vlad from vladej = "rule" and me = world, "rule the world" in contrast to Waldemar (translated: "rule and be known"). The correct translation into Slavic would actually be Vladislav ("Rule and be known" ( slav = "known")). In onomastics there are different views as to whether the Slavic name is actually borrowed from Germanic or the Germanic from Slavic or whether both come from an older Indo-European language class. The form Valdemar is common in the Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden as well as in Finland.

Current distribution in Germany

The first name Waldemar is common in Germany among Germans from the former Soviet Union ( late repatriates / expellees / Russian Germans ). Most of them were called either Waldemar or Vladimir after birth. The first name Vladimir was and is relatively widespread in the Russian-speaking world. Those who were called Vladimir there translated their first names into German after they moved to Germany in order to avoid discrimination (see also: Federal Expellees Act - Section 94 Family names and first names).

Name bearer

Waldemar

A name

Waldemar I.
Waldemar II.
Waldemar III.
Waldemar IV.
Waldemar V.

First name

Valdemar

Middle name

Woldemar

Name variants

See also

Evidence and references

  1. ^ Kluge, Etymological Dictionary of the German Language , 24th edition 2002, keywords: fairy tales , more , walten
  2. ↑ Valdemar on behindthename.com (Engl.)