Tove

Tove
Pronunciationtoːvə
GenderFemale
Origin
MeaningBeloved, Beautiful
Region of originScandinavia
Other names
Variant formsTovah, Tova

Tove is a Scandinavian given name that derives from the Old Norse name Tófa or from the Old Norse name Þórfríðr, which combines Thor with "fríðr".

Origins

Some believe the name to be a shortening of Þorfríðr, whose elements are the deity-name Thor and Old Norse fríðr 'beautiful'.[1][2][3] Tófa and Tófi appear to have been relatively popular names in the 10th and 11th centuries and are found in Anglo-Scandinavian court witness lists[4] and later in the Domesday Book[5] in their Latinised form. The personal name became a surname in medieval England, with spellings of Tovi, Tovie[6] (16th century) and Tovey recorded in wills and church documents.

Notable women

Notable men

Fictional characters

  • a legendary young woman, mistress of the Danish King Waldemar, and subject of a poem by Jens Peter Jacobsen best known for its musical setting as the Gurre-Lieder of Arnold Schoenberg
  • a fictional, slithy creature created by Lewis Carroll that appears in his poem Jabberwocky

See also

References

  1. ↑ names-meanings.net: Tove, Tofa Archived 2010-06-20 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ behindthename.com: Tove, Thorfrithr
  3. ↑ Teresa Norman, "Tova." A World of Baby Names. New York: Penguin, 2003. 504. (Note that "Tove" is listed as a cognate.)
  4. ↑ Williams, Ann (2008). The World Before Domesday: The English Aristocracy 871-1066. Bloomsbury. pp. 28, 29.
  5. ↑ "The Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England (PASE)". PASE. 5 September 2019.
  6. ↑ "Will of William Tovie of Norton Saint Philip, Somerset". The National Archives.