ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1232 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1232 ************************************ From: "S Friedemann" 19 Sep 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You want to know if would have been used as a masculine German name in period. You also asked if it would be appropriate to modify your family's coat of arms for SCA use. Here is what we have found. We found three instances of the name in Silesia, two in 1491 and one in 1527. It is also one of the more common names in Plauen in the early 16th century. [2] We also found earlier forms of the name in Switzerland in the 9th and 11th centuries. [3] You mentioned that your modern surname is from Alsace-Lorraine, so we thought that you might be interested specifically in whether your chosen name would be authentic for that area. Unfortunately, we can't say for sure. We know that in some form was in use in Switzerland from at least the 9th century, and we know that it was quite popular in eastern Germany in the 16th century, but a study of late 13th century naming in Lorraine found no names beginning with . [4] On balance it seems safest to assume that was probably a fairly rare name in Alsace-Lorraine for much of our period, but we see no reason to think that it was never used there. The appropriate German surname meaning "seeker" is , which we found in 1287. However, it was an occupational term for a huntsman's assistant, specifically, a tracker. Other German surnames with similar meanings that you might be interested in are as follows: [1] Such den Schatten, 1496 'seek the shadows' Suchendank, 1350 'seek the thanks'; used by an Austrian vagrant who apparently wrote 'I'm called Suchendank; the thanks is like my song so bright.' Findschatz, 1529 'find treasure' Suchensinn, 1380, 1392 'seek the sense' Findt den Sin, 1450 'find the sense' Suchentrunk, 1376 der Suchentrunkch, 1449 'seek the drink' Suchenwirth, circa 1380 'seek the innkeeper, barkeeper' Vindenwirt, 1498 'find the innkeeper' Suchewin, 1345 'seek wine' This name and the three above are all probably nicknames for heavy drinkers. Vintdenwu"rvel, 1296 'find the dice,' for a gambler. (The " represents an umlaut over the ) Finder, 1411 literally 'finder,' but for a clever, inventive fellow. Using a variant of a historical set of arms is a fine idea, particularly if your persona is a member of your historical family. There are a couple issues you should keep in mind: Most arms used today don't date back to 1600. Many of them are not compatible with period styles of heraldry. If you let us know what arms you have, we'd be happy to evaluate their compatibility with period heraldic style. It is not uncommon for Societyfolk to modify their families' arms for Society use. Society custom says that we should not use our mundane names or arms in the game, and the College of Arms implements that custom by requiring registered names and arms to be different from the real ones. If you want to register your arms, then you'll need to consult a herald to figure out how much you have to modify them. For more information on family coats of arms, we suggest you read the following FAQ: http://www.heraldica.org/faqs/mfaq 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. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicouer, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Walraven van Nijmegen. For the Academy, --Aryanhwy Caermyrdin September 19, 1998 --------------------------------------- Reference: [1] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960)., s.n., Sucher [2] Hellfritzsch, Volkmar, _Vogtlaendische Personennamen_ (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1969 [3] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, Vol. 1(Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972). [4] Jacobsson, Harry, _E/tudes d'Anthroponymie Lorraine les Bans de Tre/fonds de Metz (1267-1298)_ (Go:teborg: Gumperts Fo:rlag, 1955).