Edward

Edward is an Old English name composed of the elements ead, meaning wealth or fortune, and weard, meaning guard or protector, giving the overall sense of guardian of prosperity. It was borne by several Anglo-Saxon kings before the Norman Conquest and remained consistently popular in England throughout the medieval period, carried by multiple English monarchs including Edward the Confessor and Edward I. The name was never displaced by the Norman influx and continued as one of the most enduring English royal names. Common cognates and variants include Eduard, Édouard, Eduardo, Edoardo, and the short forms Ed, Eddie, and Ned.