Galfrid Explained

Galfrid or Galfred (Latinised as Latin: Galfridus or Latin: Galfredus) is an Anglo-Norman variant of the name Geoffrey. It derives, like German Gottfried (Latinised as Latin: Godafridus or Latin: Gothofredus, Anglicised as Godfrey), from Old High German German, Old High (ca.750-1050);: Godafrid, Old French French, Old (842-ca.1400);: Godefroy, and Old Norse Norse, Old: Guðfriðr, meaning 'God's peace' or 'good protection', depending upon etymological interpretation. Variants, also used as synonymous with Gottfried, include Italian Italian: Goffredo and Middle French French, Middle (ca.1400-1600);: Gaufredi (Latin Latin: Gaufridus). The name is etymologically unrelated to, but was historically used interchangeably with, Welsh Welsh: [[Gruffudd]] or Gruffydd (anglicized as Griffith) in Wales.

The Anglo-Norman and British versions addressed here may refer to:

In patrial names

• Galfredus Malaterra fl. 1097, a chronicler in Normandy; a.k.a. Goffredo Malaterra, Geoffroi Malaterra, Gaufredi Malaterræ, and Galfredus bendictinus e Normandia, and frequently cited by scholars of the early Middle Ages
• Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095 – c. 1155), an Anglo-Norman writer; a.k.a. Galfredus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, or Gruffudd ap Arthur
• Galfridus de Northcote (fl. 1103), English knight, progenitor of the Northcote baronets and earls of Iddesleigh, in Devon
• Godfrey of Saint Victor (c. 1125 – c. 1195), a French monk and theologian of the Victorine school; a.k.a. Galfredus, Geoffroy, Godefridus
• Geoffrey of Canterbury (fl. 1127–1154) Anglo-Norman Benedictine monk, an Abbot of Canterbury (England), later first Abbot of Dumfermline (Scotland); a.k.a. Galfridus
• Geoffrey of Wells (fl. 1150), an English hagiographer; a.k.a. Galfridius [de] Fontibus
• Galfridus Arbalastarius, 'Geoffrey the Crossbowman' (fl. 1189), a Norman soldier, first Lord of Preesall-with-Hackensall in Lancashire, England
• Geoffrey of Vinsauf (fl. 1200), an English grammarian, author of Poetria nova
• Galfrid de Camville (fl. 1200–1220), founder of the Priory of Cahir, a monastic house in County Tipperary, Ireland
• Galfridus (fl. 1203–1209), Abbot of Dryburgh and later of Alnwick Abbey, England; a.k.a. Geoffrey
• Galfridus de Bristollia (fl. 1213–1228), an English cleric; served as a magister to Henry de Loundres in Dublin; Ireland
• Geoffrey de Liberatione (fl. 1219 – 1249), a Scottish bishop; a.k.a. Galfredus or Galfred de Libertione
• Galfridus Martel (fl. 1242), an Anglo-Norman land-holder, namesake of Marlston (originally Marteleston), in Berkshire, England
• Galfrid de Mowbray (fl. c. 1250), a son-in-law of John I Comyn, Lord of Badenoch in Scotland
• Galfrid de Caunville (fl. ca. 1270–1290), an Anglo-Norman knight, and signatory to the Laugharne Charter in Carmarthenshire, Wales
• Galfridus de Coker (fl. 1301), a prior of Kidwelly Priory, Wales
• Galfrid de Burdon (fl. 1303–1321), a prior of Durham (and earlier of Finchale), England; a.k.a. Geoffrey de Burdon
• Galfridus de Wolvehope (fl. 1305), an English parliamentarian, briefly representing the constituency of Lewes in East Sussex, in the House of Commons
• Galfridus de Wilford (fl. 1321), a rector of St Nicholas' Church, Nottingham, England, and later of the Blackwell Church, Diocese of Lichfield (in England and partly in Wales)
• Galfredus Petrus of Bayeux (fl. 1524), a French monk, and author of Opus sane de deorum dearumque gentilium genealogia, the first work printed by Thomas Berthelet, later King's Printer for Henry VIII of England

As a given name after the development of surnames

• Galfridus Walpole (1683–1726), British naval officer and politician from Houghton in Norfolk
• Galfridus Williams (fl. 1701), a curate of St Mary's Church, Sandbach, in Cheshire, England
• Galfridus Mann (fl. 1750), an army clothier of Kent, England; brother of Sir Horace Mann, 1st Baronet, and father of Sir Horatio Mann, 2nd Baronet, and of Catherine Mann, wife of James Cornwallis, 4th Earl Cornwallis
• Galfred Congreve (fl. 1850–1881), Scottish amateur footballer and cricketer, later a civil servant
• Galfrid C. K. Dunsterville (1905–1988), a Venezuelan botanist, assigned the botanical author abbreviation "Dunst."

In fiction

• Galfrid, a character in , an 1893 British play by Arthur Wing Pinero
• Galfred, Santa Claus's bookkeeper in the 2008 American children's television movie

See also

• Phyllocoma, a genus of sea snails, with the junior synonym Galfridus
• Geoffrey, Geoffroy (surname), Jeffrey, Jeffries, Jeffers
• Godred/Guðrøðr
• Gofraid/Goraidh
• Gottfried, Godfrey, Godefroy, Goffredo
• Gruffudd/Gruffydd, Griffith (name), Griffith (surname), Griffiths