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Dictionary of Medieval Names
from European Sources

Sven m. Old Icelandic sveinn 'boy, servant', Old English swān 'herdsman, swineherd, peasant'.

The name of an 11th C king of Denmark, England, and Sweden, two 11th C kings of Norway, an 11th C king of Denmark, and a 12th C king of Denmark.

The English forms Swan and Swayne are witnessed in 1379 in the relational bynames Swansoñ (WRYPT1 p. 162) and Swaynessoñ (WRYPT1 p. 300).

Denmark
Danish
1581 Suend KD-1 no. 362, Suennd ibid. no. 362, Suenndt ibid. no. 362
England
Latin
c1145x1159 Swani (gen) EYC-3 1666, Swano (dat) ibid. 1666; 1185x1186 Suein (dat) PR-XXXVI p. 11, Sueino (abl) ibid. p. 5; 1189 Suanus (nom) GASurv p. 173, Suein (nom) ibid. p. 159, Sueinus (nom) ibid. p. 161; 1222 Sweino (nom) StPaulDom p. 81, Sweno (nom) ibid. p. 61, sueni (gen) ibid. p. 20; 1279–80 Swayn (gen) WaHR-SK p. 56
Ireland
Latin
fin12thC Swein (nom) MunDocIr III, p. 11
Scotland
Latin
c1100 Swein (abl) ESC XX
Sweden
Latin
1350 Suenoni (dat) SDHK no. 6060, Suens (gen) ibid. no. 6059, Swenoni (dat) ibid. no. 6060; 1383 Sweno (nom) SRA-vol2 no. 1901; 1411 Suenonis (gen) SDHK no. 17654, Sweno (nom) ibid. no. 17654
Old Swedish
1359 Swen (nom) SDHK no. 7548; 1377 Swen (nom) ibid. no. 11085; 1383 Sweens (gen) SRA-vol2 no. 1940, Swen (nom) ibid. no. 1900; 1408 Swens (gen) SDHK no. 17116; 1409 Swens (gen) ibid. no. 17269; 1410 Swen (nom) ibid. no. 17485; 1411 Swen (nom) ibid. no. 17663, Swens (gen) ibid. no. 17627; 1420 Svens (gen) ibid. no. 19436
Cite as: S.L. Uckelman. "Sven". In S.L. Uckelman, ed. The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, Edition 2018, no. 1. http://dmnes.org/2018/1/name/Sven.