ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1072 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1072 ************************************ 13 Jul 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about which you want to use as a 16th century English name. Here is what we have found. or was not used as a given name in our period. The word was invented in 1362 as the title of Lionel, first Duke of Clarence, so called because he had married a member of the powerful English Clare family. The title was apparently occasionally used as a surname as early as 1451, when we find , who was not one of the dukes [4]. The first example we can find of being used as a given name is in 1834 [1]. In 19th century England and the United States, it was fashionable to use surnames as given names for boys. We strongly recommend that you avoid this name, since it is definitely not appropriate to your period. If you want to consider some alternatives, you can find lists of 16th century given names on the web: Late Sixteenth Century English Given Names http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/eng16/ English Names from pre-1600 Brass Inscriptions http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/brasses/men.html Prizes of the London Masters of Defense http://www.netaxs.com/~dylan/lmod_list.html We could not find the surname in our references, but it may be a reasonable choice. It would originally have derived from a hypothetical Middle English place name something like , analogous to 1181, 1388, which appears in modern usage as [2, 3]. We're not sure when the in names like this one became the found in the modern form; it may have happened by the 16th century or it may have happened later. The best we can say is that one of or is a reasonable made-up English place name and surname for your period, but we're not sure which is most appropriate. I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 13 Jul 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). [2] Ekwall, Eilert, _The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names_, 4th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), s.n. Biggleswade. [3] Woodcock, Thomas, Janet Grant, & Ian Graham, _Dictionary of British Arms_, vol II. (The Society of Antiquaries of London, 1996). [4] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Clarence. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -