Swithin as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Swithin

What is the meaning of the name Swithin ?

The baby name Swithin is a Male name , 2 syllables long and is pronounced ˈswɪθɪn (Swithin),ˈswɪðən (archaic Swithun).

Swithin is English in Origin.

Swithin is the Anglicized form of the Old English personal name Swithun (OE Swīþhūn), built from swīþ “strong, mighty” + hūn, a name-element probably meaning “bear-cub” or “young bear.” Through later folk reanalysis of the spelling Swithin, the second element was associated with -wine “friend,” giving the popular gloss “strong friend,” which is often cited today.

The name became attached to the 9th-century Bishop of Winchester, Saint Swithun, whose weather lore fixed “St Swithin’s Day” in English tradition; this saintly fame kept the name in occasional medieval use and inspired a modest 19th-century revival among antiquarian-minded families. It remains rare in the modern Anglophone world, tending to appear in ecclesiastical contexts and English place‑names such as St Swithin’s Lane. Variant forms include Swithun (scholarly/medieval), Swithyn, Swithen, and the Latinized Swithunus; Swithin is the standard modern English spelling.

⚙ Swithin is exceptionally rare. Our whole dataset turns up only 22 recorded uses, across 9 countries.