Archibald

From Old English Arcebald, Arcenbald or Ercenbald, from Old French Archaunbault, from Proto-West Germanic *Erknabalþ, from *erkn (“pure, holy, genuine, precious”) +‎ *balþ (“strong, bold”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑː(ɹ).t͡ʃɪ.bɔːld/, /ˈɑː(ɹ).t͡ʃɪ.bəld/

Archibald (plural Archibalds)

1. A male given name from the Germanic languages.
2. A surname originating as a patronymic.

• Used as an anglicization of Scottish Gaelic Gilleasbuig (literally “servant of the bishop”), which is also often anglicized as Gillespie.

• c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

  On Holy-rood day, the gallant Hotspur there

  Young Harry Percy, and brave Archibald,

  That ever-valiant and approved Scot,

  At Holmedon met.