Bertha
Encyclopedia
Bertha is a female Germanic name
, from Old High German berhta meaning "bright one".
The name occurs as a theonym, surviving as Berchta
, a figure in Alpine folklore connected to the Wild Hunt
, probably an epithet of *Frijjō
in origin.
Bertha appears as a Frankish given name from as early as the 6th century.
The monothematic Bertha as a given name may however not originate with the theonym but rather as a short form of dithematic given names including the "bright" element.
This is notably the case with the mother of Charlemagne
, Bertrada
(properly berht-rada "bright counsel") called "Bertha Broadfoot". Carolingian use of the name Bertha, as in Bertha, daughter of Charlemagne and Bertha, daughter of Lothair II
are in this tradition.
Women named Bertha include:
Germanic name
Germanic given names are traditionally dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements, by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, King Æþelred's name was derived from æþel, for "noble", and ræd, for "counsel". Many of these names are still used today, while others have fallen out of use...
, from Old High German berhta meaning "bright one".
The name occurs as a theonym, surviving as Berchta
Perchta
Perchta or Berchta , also commonly known as Percht and other variations, was once known as a goddess in Southern Germanic paganism in the Alpine countries...
, a figure in Alpine folklore connected to the Wild Hunt
Wild Hunt
The Wild Hunt is an ancient folk myth prevalent across Northern, Western and Central Europe. The fundamental premise in all instances is the same: a phantasmal, spectral group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies or along the ground,...
, probably an epithet of *Frijjō
Frijjō
*Frijjō is the reconstructed name or epithet of a hypothesized Common Germanic love goddess giving rise to both Frigg and Freyja....
in origin.
Bertha appears as a Frankish given name from as early as the 6th century.
The monothematic Bertha as a given name may however not originate with the theonym but rather as a short form of dithematic given names including the "bright" element.
This is notably the case with the mother of Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, Bertrada
Bertrada of Laon
Bertrada of Laon, also called Bertha Broadfoot , was a Frankish queen.- Biography :...
(properly berht-rada "bright counsel") called "Bertha Broadfoot". Carolingian use of the name Bertha, as in Bertha, daughter of Charlemagne and Bertha, daughter of Lothair II
Bertha, daughter of Lothair II
Bertha was the second illegitimate daughter of Lothair II, King of Lotharingia, by his concubine Waldrada. She was renowned to be beautiful, spirited, and courageous. Ambition, coupled with her influence, involved her husbands in many wars....
are in this tradition.
Women named Bertha include:
- Saint Bertha of KentBertha of KentSaint Bertha was the Queen of Kent whose influence led to the introduction of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. She was canonized as a saint for her role in its establishment during that period of English history.Bertha was the daughter of Charibert I, Merovingian King of Paris...
(539-c. 612), Queen of Kent - Saint Bertha of Val d'OrBertha of Val d'OrSaint Bertha, Abbess of Val d'Or, near Avenay, Reims, d. c. 690.Bertha was the wife of St. Gumbert, Lord of Champenois, a nobleman of royal blood...
(d. c. 690), abbess - Saint Bertha of ArtoisBertha of ArtoisSaint Bertha of Artois or Saint Bertha of Blangy was a Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Abbess of noble blood.-Life:Saint Bertha was the daughter of Count Rigobert, the Mayor of the Palace under King Clovis II prior to Ebroin...
(mid 7th century - July 4, 725), abbess, daughter of Count Rigobert and Ursana - Bertrada of LaonBertrada of LaonBertrada of Laon, also called Bertha Broadfoot , was a Frankish queen.- Biography :...
(also called Bertha with the big feet) (720-783), Frankish queen - Saint Bertha of BingenBertha of BingenSaint Bertha of Bingen was the mother of Rupert of Bingen. Her biography was written, and subsequently her cult popularized, by Hildegard of Bingen, who lived in the same region, about three hundred years later...
(fl. c. 840?), mother of Saint Rupert of Bingen - Bertha, daughter of Lothair IIBertha, daughter of Lothair IIBertha was the second illegitimate daughter of Lothair II, King of Lotharingia, by his concubine Waldrada. She was renowned to be beautiful, spirited, and courageous. Ambition, coupled with her influence, involved her husbands in many wars....
(died 925) - Blessed Bertha de BardiBertha de BardiBlessed Bertha de Bardi was born in Florence. She was the daughter of Lothario di Ugo, Count of Vernio, and is ordinarily called Bertha de Bardi, but the name should probably be d'Alberti...
, Florence; (d. March 24, 1163) - Bertha, Duchess of BrittanyBertha, Duchess of BrittanyBertha of Cornwall , also known as Bertha of Brittany , was hereditary Duchess of Brittany between 1148 until her death. Bertha was the eldest daughter of Conan III of Brittany by Maude, the illegitimate daughter of King Henry I of England...
(c. 1114-1156) - Bertha of BurgundyBertha of BurgundyBertha of Burgundy was the daughter of Conrad the Peaceful, King of Burgundy and his wife Matilda, daughter of Louis IV, King of France and Gerberga of Saxony. She was named for her father's mother, Bertha of Swabia.She first married Odo I, Count of Blois in about 983...
(952, 964 or 967 – 1010, 16 January 1016, or 1035), queen of France - Bertha of HerefordBertha of HerefordBertha of Hereford, also known as Bertha de Pitres , was the daughter of Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford, and a wealthy heiress. She was the wife of William de Braose, 3rd Lord of Bramber to whom she brought many castles and Lordships, including Brecknock, Abergavenny, and...
(born c. 1130), heiress - Bertha of HollandBertha of HollandBertha of Holland was the first wife of Philip I of France, the King of France.-Biography:She was the daughter of Floris I, Count of Holland, by his wife Gertrude of Saxony. After her father died in 1061, her mother remarried to Robert I, Count of Flanders. In 1072 her stepfather concluded a...
(c. 1055–1093), queen of France - Bertha of Putelendorf (died 1190), Saxon noble
- Bertha of SavoyBertha of SavoyBertha of Savoy , also called Bertha of Turin, was the first wife of Emperor Henry IV, and was German Queen and Holy Roman Empress. She is buried in the cathedral of Speyer.-Life:...
(1051-1087) - Bertha of SulzbachBertha of SulzbachBertha of Sulzbach was the first wife and Empress of Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus.-Family:...
(1110-1159), Byzantine empress - Bertha of SwabiaBertha of SwabiaBertha of Swabia was Queen consort of Burgundy. She was the daughter of Burchard II, Duke of Swabia and his wife Regelinda.In 922, she was married to Rudolph II of Burgundy. Adelaide of Italy was their common daughter...
(c. 907-966), queen of Burgundy - Bertha of Val d'OrBertha of Val d'OrSaint Bertha, Abbess of Val d'Or, near Avenay, Reims, d. c. 690.Bertha was the wife of St. Gumbert, Lord of Champenois, a nobleman of royal blood...
(died c. 690), a Christian saint - Bertha BenzBertha BenzBertha Benz was born on 3 May 1849 in Pforzheim, Germany. She married inventor Karl Benz on 20 July 1872, and died 5 May 1944 in Ladenburg...
(1849-1944), wife of inventor Karl Benz - Bertha BrainardBertha BrainardBertha Brainard , known to her friends as Betty, was a pioneering NBC executive responsible for setting trends in network broadcasting....
(1890-1946), pioneering television executive - Bertha CoombsBertha CoombsBertha Coombs Bertha Coombs is a general assignment reporter for CNBC, covering financial markets and business news stories throughout the business day...
(born 1961), reporter - Bertha DíazBertha DíazJulia Bertha Díaz Hernández is a retired sprinter from Cuba, who also competed in the long jump and the hurdling events during her career. She represented her native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1956.-References:*...
(born 1936), Cuban track and field athlete - Bertha "Chippie" Hill (1905–1950), American blues and vaudeville singer and dancer
- Bertha von HillernBertha von HillernBertha von Hillern was a German-American athlete and artist.-Biography:Von Hillern emigrated to the United States in 1877. For two years, she devoted her time to advocating athletic exercises for women, and appearing in public as a competition pedestrian. She also gave demonstrations of bicycle...
(born 1857), American athlete and painter - Bertha KalichBertha KalichBertha Kalich, was a Jewish actress, born in Lemberg, Galicia...
(1874-1939), Jewish actress - Bertha KruppBertha KruppBertha Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach , born Bertha Krupp and commonly known by this name outside Germany, was a member of the Krupp family, Germany's leading industrial dynasty of the 19th and 20th centuries...
(1886-1957), sole proprietor of the Krupp industrial empire from 1902 to 1943 - Bertha Knight LandesBertha Knight LandesBertha Knight Landes was the first female mayor of a major American city. Landes served as mayor of Seattle, Washington from 1926 to 1928. She was born in Ware, Massachusetts to Charles Sanford Knight and Cordelia Cutter. Her father, a veteran of the Union Army, moved the family to Worchester in...
(1868-1943), first female mayor of a major American city (Seattle, Washington) - Bertha LewisBertha LewisBertha Lewis was an English opera singer and actress primarily known for her work as principal contralto in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.-Early life and career:...
(1887–1931), English opera singer and actress - Bertha MahonyBertha MahonyBertha Mahony , also known as Bertha Mahony Miller, is considered a figurehead of the children’s literature movement. She created one of the first children’s bookstores in Boston, Massachusetts. Mahony was also the founder of the Horn Book Magazine...
(1882–1969), publisher of children's literature - Bertha PalmerBertha PalmerBertha Palmer was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist.- Biography :Born Bertha Matilde Honoré in Louisville, Kentucky, her father was businessman Henry Hamilton Honoré...
(1849–1918), American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist - Bertha PappenheimBertha PappenheimBertha Pappenheim was an Austrian-Jewish feminist, a social pioneer, and the founder of the Jüdischer Frauenbund .- Youth :...
(1859-1936), Austrian-Jewish feminist and social pioneer - Bertha Lee PateBertha Lee PateBertha Lee Pate, known more commonly as Bertha Lee was an American classic female blues singer, active in the 1920s and 1930s. She was notable for recording with, and being the wife of, Charlie Patton.-Biography:...
(died 1975), American blues vocalist - Bertha RongeBertha RongeBertha Ronge was an activist in the causes of childhood education, women's education and religious freedom. She established the kindergarten movement in England, where she founded the first three kindergartens in London , Manchester and Leeds...
(1818-1863), Anglo-German kindergarten activist - Bertha RunkleBertha RunkleBertha Runkle was an American novelist and playwright born in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. From a literary family, she wrote five novels. Her first and best known, The Helmet of Navarre, was made into a Broadway play.-Literary family:...
(1879-1958), American novelist and playwright - Bertha SánchezBertha SánchezBertha Oliva Sánchez Rivera is a female long-distance runner from Colombia, who won several medals on continental level from the mid-1990s on. She has won twice at the South American Cross Country Championships; first winning the long race in 2000, then winning the short race competition in...
(born 1978), Colombian long-distance runner - Bertha von SuttnerBertha von SuttnerBertha Felicitas Sophie Freifrau von Suttner was an Austrian novelist, radical pacifist, and the first woman to be a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.-Biography:Suttner was born in Prague, Bohemia, the daughter of an impoverished Austrian Field Marshal,...
(1843-1914), Austrian novelist and pacifist - Bertha TammelinBertha TammelinBertha Carolina Mathilda Tammelin, née Bock was a Swedish actress, operatic mezzo soprano, pianist, composer and drama teacher.Bertha Tammelin was born to Karolina Bock and the musician of Kungliga Hovkapellet, C. Bock...
, Swedish musician, composer and singer - Bertha TeagueBertha TeagueBertha F. Teague was an American basketball coach. She coached Byng High School team in Ada, Oklahoma for 42 years with a career record of 1,157-115 . Her teams won 8 Oklahoma state titles and 98 consecutive games from 1936 to 1939...
(1906-1991), Hall of Fame basketball coach - Bertha TownsendBertha TownsendBertha Louise Townsend Toulmin was a female tennis player from the United States. She is best remembered for being the first repeating women's singles champion at the U.S. Championships...
(1869-1909), American tennis player - Bertha WilsonBertha WilsonBertha Wernham Wilson, CC was a Canadian jurist and the first woman Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.-Early life:...
(1923-2007), first female Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada - Bertha ZückBertha ZückBertha Zück, also kalled Babette , was the German favourite, Lady's maid and treasurer of Queen Josephine of Sweden....
(1797-1868), German-Swedish royal treasurer