[1] The oldest known Germanic names date to the Roman Empire period, such as those of Arminius and his wife Thusnelda in the 1st century CE, and in greater frequency, especially Gothic names, in the late Roman Empire, in the 4th to 5th centuries (the Germanic Heroic Age).
Of the large number of medieval Germanic names, a comparatively small set remains in common use today.
Some names, like Howard and Ronald, are thought to originate from multiple Germanic languages, including Anglo-Saxon.
Some hypocorisms retain a remnant of their second element, but reduced so that it cannot be identified unambiguously any longer; Curt/Kurt may abbreviate either Conrad or Cunibert.
Other monothematic names may have originated as bynames rather than hypocorisms of old dithematic names; examples may include Old English Æsc "ash tree", Carl "free man" (Charles), Hengest "stallion", Raban "raven" (Rabanus Maurus), Hagano/Hagen "enclosure", Earnest "vigorous, resolute".