Bede's name reflects West Saxon Bīeda (Anglian Bēda).J. Insley, "Portesmutha" in: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde vol. 23, Walter de Gruyter (2003), 291. It is an Old English short name formed on the root of bēodan "to bid, command".Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch s.v. BUD (289) connects the Old High German short name Bodo (variants Boto, Boddo, Potho, Boda, Puoto etc.) as from the same verbal root. The name also occurs in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 501, as Bieda, one of the sons of the Saxon founder of Portsmouth. The Liber Vitae of Durham Cathedral names two priests with this name, one of whom is presumably Bede himself. Some manuscripts of the Life of Cuthbert, one of Bede's works, mention that Cuthbert's own priest was named Bede; it is possible that this priest is the other name listed in the Liber Vitae.
Bede's name reflects West Saxon Bīeda (Anglian Bēda).J. Insley, "Portesmutha" in: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde vol. 23, Walter de Gruyter (2003), 291. It is an Old English short name formed on the root of bēodan "to bid, command".Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch s.v. BUD (289) connects the Old High German short name Bodo (variants Boto, Boddo, Potho, Boda, Puoto etc.) as from the same verbal root. The name also occurs in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 501, as Bieda, one of the sons of the Saxon founder of Portsmouth. The Liber Vitae of Durham Cathedral names two priests with this name, one of whom is presumably Bede himself. Some manuscripts of the Life of Cuthbert, one of Bede's works, mention that Cuthbert's own priest was named Bede; it is possible that this priest is the other name listed in the Liber Vitae.