Ekkehard
Ekkehard (and Eckardt, Eckard, Eckart, Eckhardt, Ekkehart) is a German given name. It is composed of the elements ekke "edge, blade; sword" and hart "brave; hardy". Variant forms include Eckard, Eckhard, Eckhart, Eckart. The Anglo-Saxon form of the name was Ecgheard, possibly attested in the toponym Eggerton.
Middle Ages
[edit]It was the name of five monks of the Abbey of Saint Gall from the tenth to the thirteenth century:
- Ekkehard I (died 973)
- Ekkehard II (died 990)
- Ekkehard III
- Ekkehard IV (died c. 1056)
- Ekkehard V (died c. 1220)
It was also the name of two Margraves of Meissen:
Other notable people with that given name include:
- Ekkehard of Huysburg (died 1084), abbot of Huysburg Abbey
- Ekkehard of Aura (died 1126), chronicler and abbot of Aura Abbey
- Meister Eckhart (died c. 1327), philosopher and mystic
- Eckhard Christian (1907-1985), Luftwaffe officer
- Ekkehard von Kuenssberg (1913–2000), German doctor
- Eckhard Pfeiffer (b. 1941), businessman
See also
[edit]- Ekkehard (novel), 1855 novel by Joseph Victor von Scheffel inspired by Ekkehard II of Saint Gall
- Ekkehard, 1878 opera by Johann Joseph Abert based on the novel