Drogo

Drogo is an ancient masculine name with Germanic origins. The etymology is not entirely certain, but it likely developed from the Old Norse and Old Frisian “draga/drega” meaning “to bear, carry” from the Proto-Indo-European root *dherāgh- meaning “to drag, pull” (Pok. 257). We know the name has been in circulation since at least the 7th century as evidenced by Drogo, Duke of Champagne (670-708), an appointment awarded him by his father, Pepin the Middle. The name was also shared by one of Charlemagne’s illegitimate sons in the 9th century. However, no other person named Drogo can claim the kind of notoriety enjoyed by St. Drogo, a 12th century Flemish nobleman-turned-religious-hermit known as the Patron Saint of Ugly People (or “those whom other people find repulsive”). Nice title, huh? It was during one of Drogo’s many pilgrimages to Rome when he contracted some unknown disease that left him horribly disfigured. His neighboring town folk couldn’t stand to look at poor Drogo, so a tiny cell was built attached to the local church where he could live in complete isolation (apparently surviving on just cereal grain, water and the Eucharist handed to him through a small window). It was the Norman French who brought the name Drogo to England in the 11th century; however, the name seems to have fallen out of circulation by the High Middle Ages. Not surprisingly, he hasn’t seen a revival.