Naming practices

[Thomas]

Greetings.

I am working on a novel about Alaric.  In my research, I read in one place that Alaric may not have been his name, but that Alaric was a distortion by contemporary writers of his title, Ala Reiks (prince of princes).

I suspect that this is not true because there were many Gothic names which included the suffix ric, Athanaric for instance.

I have also read that he had an appellation, the bold (balthi).
To complicate that, I read that Balthi was the title of a sub-tribe of the Tervingi.

My goal in writing is to not only entertain, but to educate.
So, I have a question.  If Balthi were an appellation to Alaric's name, would it have been:
Alaric the Bold (Like Eric the Red)
or
Bold Alaric (like Red Eric)

Thank you guys very much.
I have asked questions here before and got very helpful responses.  You guys are great.

Tom

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