Headda
Headda is a short form of an Anglo-Saxon masculine name commencing with heathu (war).
Variants:
Headda [John Kemble 1839 Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici 1: 35].
Haedda [Ernst Förstemann 1900 Altdeutsches Namenbuch, volume 1, 2nd edition, column 790].
Headdi [Sir Allen Mawer, Sir Frank Stenton, & Sir Frederick Houghton 1927 English Place-Name Society 4: 384].
H(e)adda [John Gover, Sir Allen Mawer, & Sir Frank Stenton 1932 English Place-Name Society 9: 684].
Head(d)a [Hugh Smith 1962 English Place-Name Society 36: 293].
Headd [Barrie Cox 1994 English Place-Name Society 67-69: 174].
Stem:
heathu = war, only found in compounds [Max Straube 1904 Manual of German Etymology in its Relation to English, page 121].
Suffix:
— a = termination of pet names, such as Cutha for Cuthwine or Cuthwulf [William Searle 1897 Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum, page 1].
Usage:
There was a Bishop of Lichfield & Leicester called Headda [William Searle 1899 Anglo-Saxon Bishops, Kings and Nobles, pages 128, 142 & 237]. He witnessed a charter issued by King Æthelræd of Mercia: “✠ Ego headda epı̃s ꝯsen. ⁊ suᵬs.” [John Kemble 1839 Codex Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici 1: 35 (number 32)]: “I Bishop Headda [of Lichfield] have consented and subscribed” [Arthur Jones 1958 Anglo-Saxon Worcester, page 62].
