Theodoric is a Germanic given name. First attested as a Gothic name in the 5th century, it became widespread in the Germanic-speaking world, not least due to its most famous bearer, Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Overview The name was Latinized as Theodoricus or Theodericus, originally from a Common Germanic form *Þeudarīks ("people-ruler") from *þeudō ("people") and *rīks, which would have resulted in a Gothic *𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (*þiudareiks). Anglicized spellings of the name during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages include Theodoric, Theoderic, Theudoric, Theuderic. Gregory of Tours Latinized the name as Theodorus, in origin the unrelated Greek name Theodore (Θεόδωρος, meaning "God's gift"). As the name survived throughout the Middle Ages, it transformed into a multitude of forms in the languages of Western Europe. These include the High German form Dietrich, abbreviated Dieter, the Low German and Dutch form Diederik, or Dierik, abbreviated Dirck, Dirk, Dik or Diede, the Norwegian Tjodrik, Diderik and Didrik. Of the Romance languages, French has Thierry and Italian, Portuguese and Spanish has Teodorico. The English forms Derek, Derrick and Terry have been re-introduced from the continent, from Low German, Dutch and French sources. The derived Welsh form is Tewdrig, however there also exists the related Welsh name Tudur (from Proto-Celtic *Toutorīxs, exactly cognate with Proto-Germanic *Þeudarīks) which is the origin of the name of the English Tudor dynasty. Late antiquity to early Middle Ages The earliest record of the name is in a Roman-era (3rd century) inscription, discovered in 1784 in Wiesbaden (at the time known as Aquae Mattiacorum in Germania Superior), edited in Codex inscriptionum romanarum Danubii et Rheni as no. 684: , interpreted as In honorem domus divinae, Apolloni toutiorigi. This has given rise to a supposed "Apollo Teutorix" in 19th-century literature. Rhys (1892) opined that "the interest attached to the word Toutiorix is out of all proportion to its single occurrence". The existence of a genuinely Celtic name Teutorix or Tout(i)orix is uncertain, though Welsh Tudur, Old Welsh Tutir presupposes a precise cognate of Toutorix at least in ancient British Celtic. Rhys surmises that the "historical Teuton" (viz. Theoderic the Great) bore a name of the Gaulish Apollo as adopted into early Germanic religion. The first known bearer of the name was Theodoric I, son of Alaric I, king of the Visigoths (d. 451). The Gothic form of the name would have been Þiudareiks, which was Latinized as Theodericus.