ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1022 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1022 ************************************ From: "S Friedemann" 9 Jun 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You were interested in feminine English names starting with "P" that were used between 1250 and 1500, and wanted to have a persona that mixed English, Irish, and Norse, to reflect your modern background. You also wanted to know how family relationships were shown in names. Here is the information we have found. We found the following names starting with

used between 1250 and 1450. [1] Any of these would be appropriate for your time and persona. Parnell, Paronel, Paveye, Pechel, Penne, Pernel, Peronele, Peronell, Peronelle, Peryna, Petronell, Peronelle, Peryna, Petronella, Petronill, Petronilla, Petronille, Petronyl, Philomena, Philota, Pipa, Placencia, Plesance, Plesancia, Plesantia, Pogge, Preciosa, Precious, Purnele and Pypa. Combining English, Irish, and Norse into one persona would be rather difficult; while the English and the Irish had contact, the English and the Norse had contact, and the Norse and the Irish had contact, all three cultures did not relate with one another. We suggest either an Anglo-Irish persona or an Anglo-Scottish persona, or you could have a northern English persona with a surname of Scandinavian origin. For example, the surname , recorded in 1327 [2], derives from the Norse given name . would be an excellent name for a woman living in northern England early in your period. It would have been understood to mean "Parnell, daughter of Thurkild." In English contexts, your children would primarily be known as you or your husband's children, by using either of your names as a byname, unmodified, i.e., , "Pipa, daughter of Parnell." You could use your husband's byname or surname to show your relationship to him; this was more common in later period. In early period, it's more likely that you'd use the same byname that you had before marriage. Particularly if you were of a noble family in the first couple centuries of your period, you could all be known by the name of your estate, . We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Additional research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Charles O'Connor, and Modar Neznanich. For the Academy, Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael ------------------------------------------------- References: [1] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/reaney/. [2] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995)