ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1228 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1228 ************************************ 9 Sep 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 German name. You wrote that you are also interested in a name that means "Beatrice the Seamstress". Here is what we have found. You told us that you found the elements of your name on the web at http://www.znet.com/~savaskan/germans/names.html We are familiar with that web page, and it is unfortunately not a reliable source for period names. The names on the page were copied from various modern history books, and are a mixture of Dutch, Low German, High German, and borrowings from French, Italian, and various Slavic languages. The spellings have been modernized in many cases and many of the feminine names appear to have been invented based on the assumption that any masculine name could be feminized. At least some of the names are definitely not period. Fortunately, you chose names that are pretty close to correct period forms. is a modern Dutch form of [1]. The most common modern spelling is , and we've found that spelling in Holland as early as the 14th century and in Flanders between 1400 and 1550 [2, 3]. We aren't sure when the spelling first appeared; we wouldn't be surprised to see it in 16th century records, but we haven't found it. The spelling is uniquely Dutch; it would be very surprising to see it in German. In Germany, we have found in 1300. We haven't found a later form, but we suspect that is the fault of our limited sources. We believe that is a reasonable name for your period in Germany. We have not found an example of in our sources, but we did find 1368 and [4, 5], both of which are nicknames for that were eventually used as a family names. We suspect that the spelling is Swiss German. If you want to be German and want to use the family name , then we recommend that you call yourself . We believe that this would be a fine Swiss German name for your period. If you prefer to spell your first name , then we suggest you consider a Netherlandish (Dutch or Flemish) persona. For that persona, would not be appropriate. If you want an analogous Dutch family name, you could use [2]. We don't have much data on Dutch names in the 16th century. We do know that many men were known by their occupations [3], and it is certainly possible that women used occupational bynames, too. We found several Dutch words which mean "seamstress" [7]: Naeyster Naeyerse Naeysterige (southern form, i.e. Flemish) The first of these was the most common. If you'd like to consider some other surnames from your period, you can find some possibilities in the article "Flemish Names from Bruges", on the web at http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/bruges/ Occupational bynames were certainly used in 16th century Germany. We found a woman recorded in 1546 near Riedlingen (on the Danube between Ulm, Switzerland and the Bodensee) [6]. The feminine ending on her surname strongly suggests that either she was herself a seamstress, or she was the daughter or wife of a seamster. ( is an with an umlaut.) Based on this evidence, we recommend as a 16th century German name. 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 and Walraven van Nijmegen. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 9 Sept 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Van der Schaar, J., _Woordenboek van Voornamen: inventarisatie van de doop- en roepnamen met hunetymologie_ (Utrecht & Antwerpen: Aula-Boeken, 1967). [2] Van der Velden, G. M., _Het Oudste Cijnregister van de Abdij van Berne uit 1376_ ('s-Hertogenbosch: 1982). [3] Luana de Grood, "Flemish Given Names from Bruges, 1400-1600", (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/bruges/ [4] Talan Gwynek, "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia" (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1998). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/bahlow_v.htm [5] Bahlow, Hans, _Deutsches Namenlexikon : Familien- und Vornamen nach Ursprung und Sinn erklaert_ (Frankfurt am Main : Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 1985, 1990), s.n. Kles. See also reference [6], s.nn. Cle{sz} and Kle{sz}. [6] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960), s.n. Na"her. [7] Verdam, J., _Middelnederlandsch Handwoordenboek_ (Leiden, Antwerpen: Martinus Nijhoff, repr. 1981), s.n. Naeyer. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -