ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1088 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1088 ************************************ 19 Jul 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the name , particularly about when and where the surname was used. You wrote about almost the same name, , in September 1997; for reference, you can find our answer to that question on the web at http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi?614 Inheritence of surnames, where a child automatically bears her father's surname, first appeared among the great nobles of England in the 11th century, but didn't become commonplace among the general population until the 14th century. Your surname in 14th century England could be inherited from your father, or it might be a "byname", i.e. a description used by other people to identify you. All surnames were originally bynames of one kind or another; derives from a "patronymic byname", i.e. one that identified the bearer's father. It is possible that your surname meant that your father's name was (which is the more common spelling of the name in your period) [1]. It could also have meant that your father also used the surname because his own father or some important ancestor used the first name . The given name , in one spelling or another, was in use in England as least as early as 1208 [1], so your surname is appropriate for a family who had lived in England for several generations. The name was also used among Scots-speakers in Scotland, and forms of it are found in France as well, particularly in Brittany [1, 2]. (Scots was a language closely related to contemporary English. In the late centuries of our period it was spoken mainly in the Lowlands. It is a completely different language from Gaelic.) We would be remiss if we did not repeat one point from our previous letter: , spelled this way and pronounced \mar-EYE-ah\, is not a period name. It dates only to the 19th century [3]. The most common English form of in your period is [4]. 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 Barak Raz, Talan Gwynek, and Tangwystyl vz. Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 19 Jul 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] P. H. Reaney & R. M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995, s.n. Gavin. [2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986). [3] Leslie Dunkling and William Gosling, The New American Dictionary of First Names (Signet Books, 1983). [4] Talan Gwynek, Feminine Given Names in 'A Dictionary of English Surnames' (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: privately published, 1997). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -