Clovis is the modern conventional French (and thence English) form of the

Old Frankish Frankish ( reconstructed endonym: *), also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 10th centuries. Franks under king Chlodio settled in Roman Gaul in the 5th century. O ...

name (in

runic alphabet Runes are the Letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see ''#Futharks, futhark'' vs ''#Runic alphabets, runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were ...

) or *"Hlōdowik" or "Hlōdowig" (in

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

), equivalent to the modern forms

Louis Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also ...

(French),

Lodewijk Lodewijk () is the Dutch name for Louis. In specific it may refer to: Given name Literature * Lodewijk Hartog van Banda (1916–2006), Dutch comic strip writer * Lodewijk Paul Aalbrecht Boon, (1912–1979) Flemish writer * Lodewijk van De ...

(Dutch), Lewis (English), and Ludwig (German).

Etymology

The name *''Hlōdowik'' or *''Hlōdowig'' is traditionally considered to be composed of two elements, deriving from both

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

''*hlūdaz'' ("loud, famous") and ''*wiganą'' ("to battle, to fight") respectively, resulting in the traditional practice of translating Clovis' name as meaning "famous warrior". However, scholars have pointed out that

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...

consequently transcribes the names of various Merovingian royal names containing the first element as ''chlodo-''. The use of a

close-mid back protruded vowel The close-mid back rounded vowel, or high-mid back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Close-mid back protruded vowel The clo ...

(o), rather than the expected

close back rounded vowel The close back rounded vowel, or high back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u. I ...

(u) which Gregory does use in various other Germanic names (i.e.

Fredegundis 678 Fredegundis is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was discovered 22 January 1909 from Heidelberg by German astronomer K. Wilhelm Lorenz, and was named after the French opera Frédégonde. This object is orbiting at a distance of with a ...

, Arnulfus,

Gundobad Gundobad (; ; 452 – 516) was King of the Burgundians (473–516), succeeding his father Gundioc of Burgundy. Previous to this, he had been a patrician of the moribund Western Roman Empire in 472–473, three years before its collapse, suc ...

us, etc.) opens up the possibility that the first element instead derives from

''*hlutą'' ("lot, share, portion"), giving the meaning of the name as "loot bringer" or "plunder (bringing) warrior". This hypothesis is supported by the fact that if the first element is taken to mean "famous", then the name of

Chlodomer Chlodomer, also spelled Clodomir or Clodomer (c. 495 - 524) was the second of the four sons of Clovis I, King of the Franks. History Clodomir was the eldest son of Clovis and his wife, Clotilde. On the death of his father, in 511, he divided ...

(one of Clovis' sons) would contain two elements (''*hlūdaz'' and ''*mērijaz'') both meaning "famous", which would be highly uncommon within the typical

Germanic name Germanic given names are traditionally dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements ( stems), by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, King Æþelred's name was derived from ', meaning "noble", and ', meaning "counsel". The i ...

structure.

Frankish royalty

Clovis I Clovis (; reconstructed Old Frankish, Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first List of Frankish kings, king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a ...

(511), the first king of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler * Clovis II (637 – c. 658), king of Neustria and Burgundy * Clovis III (reigned 675–676), the king of Austrasia * Clovis IV (682–695), the sole king of the Franks from 691 until 695 * Clovis (died 580), son of

Chilperic I Chilperic I ( 539 – September 584) was the king of Neustria (or Soissons) from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Franks, Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund. Life Immediately after the death of his father in 561, he ...

and Audovera, assassinated by his father and stepmother *

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (; ; ; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only ...

, son of Charlemagne,

King of Aquitaine The Duchy of Aquitaine (, ; , ) was a historical fiefdom located in the western, central, and southern areas of present-day France, south of the river Loire. The full extent of the duchy, as well as its name, fluctuated greatly over the centuries ...

from 781 and sole ruler of the Franks 814–840, but counted as "Louis I of France" even though

West Francia In medieval historiography, West Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the West Franks () constitutes the initial stage of the Kingdom of France and extends from the year 843, from the Treaty of Verdun, to 987, the beginning of the Capet ...

(the nucleus of the later kingdom of France) was formed only after his death.

Modern use

Because of the importance of

in the national historiography of France, the form ''Clovis'' has been occasionally revived beginning in the 19th century. In the same period, the form ''Chlodwig'' has seen some limited use in Germany.The name ''Chlodwig'' is not now in use as a given name in Germany, but it exists as a surname, with a very limited (five individuals) found in the German phonebook as of 201
Chlodwig
verwandt.de Somewhat more widespread as a surname is the variant ''Klodwig'' (67 entrie

verwandt.de * Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (1819–1901) * Clovis Hugues (1851–1907), French author *

Chlodwig, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld Chlodwig, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (''Chlodwig Alexis Ernst''; 30 July 1876 – 17 November 1954) was an officer in the Prussian Army and head of the Hesse-Philippsthal line of the House of Hesse. As head of the house he was styl ...

(1876–1954) * Clovis Trouille (1889–1975), French painter * Clovis-Thomas Richard (1892–1976), Canadian politician * Clovis Renaison (1892–1989), French Senator * Clovis E. Byers (1899–1979), American general * Clovis Maksoud (1926–2016), American diplomat and journalist * Clovis Cornillac (born 1967), French actor *

Clovis Kamdjo Clovis Kamdjo Tchoumbou (born 15 December 1990) is a Cameroonian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender or midfielder. Kamdjo came to England at the age of 14 and started his caree ...

(born 1990), Cameroonian football player

Fictional characters

* Clovis la Britannia, a character in the anime series ''Code Geass'' * Clovis, the main antagonist in the 1997 ''Blade Runner'' video game * Clovis Sangrail, a character in the short stories of

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and ...

* Clovis Dardentor, the protagonist in the Jules Verne's novel of the same name * Clovis, a minor character in

Rick Riordan Richard Russell Riordan Jr. ( ; born June 5, 1964) is an American author, best known for writing the ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' series. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and sold more than thirty million cop ...

's Heroes of Olympus series * Clovis, a major supporting character in Keith Knight's '' Woke'' series * Rush Clovis, supporting character in the Star Wars Universe who appears in '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' * Clovis Bray, a character appearing in the lore of the games ''

Destiny Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words ''fate'' and ''destiny'' ...

'' and ''

Destiny 2 ''Destiny 2'' is a free-to-play online first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie. It was originally released as a pay-to-play game in 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. It became free-to-play, utilizing the games as a se ...

'' and later revealed as a character in '' Destiny 2: Beyond Light'' * Corey Martin Craig plays Clovis, Pee-wee Herman's band mate in the Renegades 'Pee-wee's Big Holiday', 2016

References

{{given name French masculine given names Masculine given names