ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1163 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1163 ************************************ From: "Rachel Cates " 19 Aug 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to use as a feminine Welsh name between 1000 and 1400. You also stated that if a Welsh version of was available, you would want to use it instead of . Here is the information we've found: is one of the six most popular women's names found in 16th century Welsh documents [1]. We also found a 13th century Latin form . Since we have examples of in the 13th century as well, is a fine name for your period [2]. is a very rare name in period Wales. We have found only one example, in an early 14th century document [4]. It is significant that this person was recorded by his given name alone, a format which is used only for extremely rare names. Therefore we recommend against using in a name for your period. There was a name based on that was fairly common in your period. , that is "servant of (Saint) Michael", was used as a man's given name in Wales during the 13th and 14th centuries, and even as late as the 17th century. Here are some spellings found in your period [3, 5]: gwas myagel (late 13th c.) wasmyhangel (probably ca. 1300) Gwasmihangel (ca. 1300) Gwasmyhangel (1326) Wasmihangel (13th c.) Wasmyhangel (13th c.) We hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please do 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 Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Arval Benicoeur, Margaret Makafee, and Walraven van Nijmegen. For the Academy, Ethini ingen Cormacc References: [1] Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "16th Century Welsh Women's Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996) http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/welsh.html [2] Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "A Simple Guide to Constructing 13th Century Welsh Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996) http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/welsh13.html [3] Morgan, T.J and Prys Morgan, "Welsh Surnames", Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1985 [4] I.J. Sanders "The Boroughs of Aberystwth and Cardigan in the Early Fourteenth Century" in BBCS vol. 15 part 4 (1954) p.282 [5] Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "Names and Naming Practices in the Merioneth Lay Subsidy Roll 1292-3", in Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings, 1991 (SCA: Laurel, Maryland, 1991)