ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1294 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1294 ************************************ From: "S Friedemann" 7 Nov 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help creating a 14th century Swiss or South German masculine name, using the surname . You also asked about the arms "Per pale Or and azure, two keys in saltire counterchanged," "Per pale argent and sable, three deer's antlers in pale gules," and "Chevronny of four argent and sable, in chief dexter a chess rook gules." Here is the information we have found. The Lu:tschine river (the represents a u-umlaut) is in the Bernese Oberland, southeast of Interlaken in Switzerland. Two towns found that area are Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald. [1] However, the only evidence that we have of surnames formed from river names is indirect; at best, the river gave its name to a place, which in turn gave its name to a person. Examples of such a surname that we found include -- Rembrandt called himself , with the deriving from his father's windmill on the Old Rhein. [4] 1382, and 1272, "of the Rhein" [5] 1334, "from the Mosel" [5] 1351, and 1394, "from the Oder" [5] >From these examples, we feel that might be a possible surname, but this type was quite rare. We suggest that you consider chosing a place name located on the stream, and form your surname from that. Either or would be fine German surnames. If you'd like some ideas for your given name, we suggest you procure a copy of Adolf Socin's _Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch. Nach oberrheinischen Quellen des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts_ [6], and browse the names in there. While it is a bit early for your period, it is our best source for that part of the world. We would like to commend you on your excellent choices for arms. All three of your designs are quite typical of German style from your chosen period, with the exception of the charge in canton found in your third choice, "Chevronelly of four argent and sable, in dexter chief a chess rook gules." We found no examples of a single charge in canton in German or Swiss armory in period. We suggest you consider using one of your first two choices, "Per pale Or and azure, two keys in saltire counterchanged," or "Per pale argent and sable, three deer's antlers in pale gules," both of which are quite typical of period German heraldic style. [2,3] 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 Arval Benicoeur, Walraven van Nijmegen, Zenobia Naphtali, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, --Aryanhwy merch Catmael Caermyrdin November 7, 1998 --------------------------------------- References: [1] "Lauterbrunnen" Britannica Online. [Accessed 15 September 1998]. http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=micro/340/64.html [2] Popoff, Michel. Le Ro^le d'Armes de Zurich. Documents d'He/raldique Me/die/vale 9 (Paris: E/ditions du Le/opard d'Or, 1986). [3] Charles Stewart O'Connor. 'The Heraldry of the Manesse' in Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium (Richmond, Va.: SCA, Inc., 1983). [4] Bach, Adolf. Deutsche Namenkunde I: Die deutschen Personennamen (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, Universitaetsverlag, 1953)., Sec. 340 [5] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960). s.nn. Rein, Mosler, Odermann [6] Socin, Adolf, _Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch. Nach oberrheinischen Quellen des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts_ (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1903; Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966).