Herne

name

name ·1 syllable ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Herne the Hunter, an English mythological figure; an antlered ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park in the English county of Berkshire.
  2. 2
    A village in Herne and Broomfield parish, City of Canterbury district, Kent, England (OS grid ref TR1865).
  3. 3
    A city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
  4. 4
    A surname.

Example

More examples

"Tom fell into a coma caused by his alcoholism in January 1983, and died in May without having regained consciousness, at St. Mary's Hospital in Herne."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Unknown. Suggested by R. Lowe Thompson to derive from Proto-Indo-European *ḱer- (“horn”), which would mean it is related to English horn. Others have suggested that it comes from Old English Herian (literally “warrior-leader”), which is a name for Woden. Another theory is that it derives from the surname Horne.

Etymology 2

From Old English hyrne (“corner”).

Etymology 3

From German Herne.

Etymology 4

Variant of Hearn.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.