A male name. Old German Theudobald, compound of theuda ‘folk’, ‘people’, and bald ‘bold’. Names compounded with theuda were early changed to theo~ under the influence of such Greek names as Theodore. There was a corresponding Old English name Theodbeald, and no doubt this survived after the Normans had introduced their version of the Germanic name. There are several subtenants mentioned in Domesday Book as Tedbaldus, Teodbald, Tetbald, which may well represent Old English Theodbeald. Later Teobaldus or Theobaldus is the usual Latin form, the vernacular being Tebald or Tibald, which survives in the surnames Tibbald, Tibbles, &c. Lyford 1655 gives Tibald as a form of Theobald, and Pope pilloried Lewis Theobald, the editor of Shakespeare, as Tibbald, explaining in a note that his name was so pronounced. Cf. also Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet.

Tedbaldus, Teodbald, Tetbald Domesday Book 1086. Teebald Curia Regis Rolls 1196. Theobaldus Curia Regis Rolls 1199-1220, Feudal Aids 1303, 1316, 1428. Teobaldus Feudal Aids 1428. Theobald Hundred Rolls 1273. Tebbe Hundred Rolls 1273. Tebaud Hundred Rolls 1273. Tebald Hundred Rolls 1273.

In C19-20, mainly a surname, Theobald is an enviable ‘Christian’, for in Teutonic it signifies ‘(the) people’s prince’. In 1247 there died a French nobleman turned Cistercian monk of whom Alban Butler, in his Lives of the Saints (published in C18), nobly wrote that ‘he lived in the midst of his brethren as the servant of every one, and surpassed all others in his love of poverty, silence and holy prayer’.

A name derived from the Old German Theudibald, from teut-bald, strong or bold leader. See Theodoric. The nickname is Tib.

A Teutonic name, meaning: Bold patriot: firm for the people.