Bohemund m. In origin a nickname from Latin Buamundus gigas, the name of a legendary giant.
The first Bohemund was a 12th C prince of Taranto and Antioch originally christened Mark. According to Orderic Vitalis, the nickname Boamundus was "given to him by his father, who had recently heard at a banquet a droll tale about a certain 'Buamundus Gigas,' and who evidently considered the name appropriate for his own giant son" (Yewdale, p. 5). Little further information about this giant is known. Förstemann's derivative of it from a German tribe name Boii + Old Saxon mund, Old High German munt 'hand, protection' (I, cols. 324-325) is conjecture. The name continued to be used by the original Bohemund's descendants.