good Henryn.

Etymology: < good adj. + the male forename Henry, after Dutch †goede Heyndrick (1554 in Dodoens, or earlier; the modern Dutch name is brave hendrik ), itself after German guter Heinrich (second half of the 15th cent.). Compare post-classical Latin Bonus Henricus (1542 or earlier, also 1737 in Linnaeus as specific epithet), Middle French bon henric (1545; French bon henri subsequently from 1704), apparently all after the German plant name. Compare good King Harry n., good King Henry n.The male forename Heinrich is often applied in German folklore to elves and sprites (compare Heinzelmännchen ‘benevolent domestic sprite’, which shows a pet form of the forename as its first element), and also (with qualifying adjectives) to various plants. In the 1644 edition of Dodoens's Cruydt-boeck, it was suggested that the plant was so named on account of its good properties, in contrast to a noxious plant called in post-classical Latin Malus Henricus (1583 or earlier). The referent of the latter has not been identified with certainty (the 16th-cent. Swiss author Conrad Gesner gives it as a name used by peasants in his home country, and tentatively identifies it with goat's-bane, a species of Aconitum). It has a formal parallel in German böser Heinrich, which however is attested considerably later (1744 denoting dog's mercury, 1777 denoting broomrape); in view of the chronology of the attestation of the ‘good Henry’ and ‘bad Henry’ names, it is likely that the ‘bad Henry’ was named after the ‘good Henry’.