Hedwig - Meaning of Hedwig
What does Hedwig mean?
[ 1 syll. he-dwi(g), hed-w-ig ] The baby girl name Hedwig is also used as a boy name, though the use for girls is far more popular. It is pronounced as HHT-WihG †. Hedwig's language of origin is Germanic. It is predominantly used in English and German. It is a two-element name derived from hadu and wig with the meanings 'struggle' and 'fighter, warrior' respectively. An original form of the name is Haduwig (Germanic). The forms Hedwig and Jadwiga were borne by various saints in the medieval period. The name was later made known to English speakers by the central character Hedvig Ekdal from the Henrik Ibsen play The Wild Duck (1884). In recent times, it has appeared as the name of Harry's pet owl Hedwig in the Harry Potter (1997-2007) series by J. K. Rowling.
The name Hedwig is widely used; it has 33 forms that are used in English and foreign languages. English forms of Hedwig include Avis, Hadu, Haduwig, Hadvig, Hadwig, Hedda (used in German and Scandinavian too), Heddy, Hedvige, Hedwiga, Hedwyg, Hetta, Hetty (used in German too), and Jadviga. Other English forms include the diminutives Heda (used in Scandinavian too), Heddi, Heddie, Hedi (used in German too), and Hedy (used in Dutch and German too).
Forms used in foreign languages include Eda (Polish and Spanish), Edda (Italian), Edvige (Italian), Edwige (French), Hadewych (Dutch), Hedvick (Czech), Hedvig (Scandinavian), Hedviga (Hungarian and Slavic), Hedvika (Czech, German, and Slavic), Hedwige (French), Jadvyga (Lithuanian), Jadwiga (Polish), Wiga (Polish), and Wisia (Polish). The shortening Hede (German) is another foreign form.
See also the related categories, fighter (warrior), medieval, english, duck, owl, wild, saints, and german.
Hedwig is an unusual baby girl name. Its usage peaked modestly in 1915 with 0.015% of baby girls being named Hedwig. It had a ranking of #505 then. The baby name has experienced a steep decline in frequency since then, and is used only on a very light scale now. Among all girl names in its family, Hedwig was nevertheless the most commonly used in 2018. In the last century Hedwig has mainly been a baby girl name.
Baby names that sound like Hedwig include Hudes, Hadah, Hadas, Haddah, Hadeiyah, Hadewych, Hadwig, Hatsie, Hatsu, Hatsy, Hayuda, Hayudah, Heatha, Hedah, Hedwige, Heida, Hidda, Hodah, Hodesh, and Hooda.
† Pronunciation for Hedwig: HH as in "he (HH.IY)" ; T as in "tee (T.IY)" ; W as in "we (W.IY)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; G as in "grin (G.R.IH.N)"
A famous person named Hedwig is Actress, Hedy Lamarr, born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler November 9, 1913 - January 19, 2000, Vienna, Austria.
