ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3348
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3348
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13 Jan 2009
From: Ursula Whitcher 

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked where and when the name <Eofor> was used.

<Eofor> is an Old English form of a name that appeared in Old Swedish as
<Iuvur> and in Old West Norse as <Io,furr>.  You found <Eofor> as the
name of a Geatish warrior in the Old English epic poem 'Beowulf'. [1]
We haven't found an example of <Eofor> outside this literary context,
but we do have some indirect evidence that the name might have been
used: the Yorkshire town name <Everingham> probably derives from the Old
English phrase <Eoforinga ha:m> 'homestead of the Eoforingas, the people
called after Eofor'.  (Here we've used a colon to represent a long mark
over the preceding letter.) [2]  Most Old English place names ending
<-inga ha:m> were formed quite early: the pattern dates to a "colonizing
phase" of Anglo-Saxon settlement in England.  Thus, <Eofor> might have
been used in the seventh century, or even earlier. [3]

We also found a few examples of <Eofor> used as the first element in a
compound Old English name: <Eofuruulf> and <Eoforhw{ae}t> in
Northumbria, and <Iofermund>, <Eoferad>, <Eofrulf>, <Eferulf>,
<Eaferard>, and <Efrard> on tenth-century coins. [4]  (<Eaferard> and
<Efrard> may be Old English renderings of the Continental Germanic name
which appears in various forms as <Eburard>, <Everard>, <Eburhard>, or 
<Everhard>.)

We hope this letter has been useful to you.  Please don't hesitate to
write to us again if you have any questions.  Maria Abramsdottir, Talan
Gwynek, Coblaith Mhuimhneach, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Leonor Ruiz de
Lison, Bronwyn ferch Gwyn ap Rhys, Juetta Copin, and Brian Dorcha ua
Connail assisted in researching and writing this letter.

For the Academy,

Ursula Georges
13 January 2009

References:

[1] Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 3273
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3273

[2] _Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the
Collections of the English Place-Name Society_, Edited by Victor Watts,
Edited in association with John Insley, Margaret Gelling (Cambridge
University Press: January 2004) s.n. <Everingham>.

[3] Kenneth Cameron, _English Place Names_, revised edition
(London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1996), ch. 5.

[4] Gunter Mueller, _Studien zu den Theriophoren Personennamen der
Germanen_ (Koeln: Bo"hlau Verlag, 1970), 19.