ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1300 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1300 ************************************ From: "Friedemann, Sara L" 29 Oct 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if the Scottish feminine name was used between 1100 and 1450, and also asked for information on surnames from that period. Here is the information we have found. In 12th and 13th centuries, several languages were spoken in the area that is Scotland today. The major ones were: Norse, spoken in the far north and the western isles. English, spoken mainly in the southeast. Gaelic, spoken through much of the country. Norman French, spoken by Norman settlers and their Scoto-Norman descendents, mostly in the south. In the 14th century, two of the above languages became more prevalent: Gaelic, spoken in the Highlands, and Scots, spoken in the Lowlands and the towns. Gaelic is the same language spoken in Ireland at this time; Scots is closely related to contemporary English. Names were formed quite differently in these various cultures and across the 350 years you asked about. Where and when you choose to set your persona will determine how your name should be constructed. We found one Norman instance of in Scotland in 1288 [1]. We also found 59 citings of in Yorkshire in 1379 [2] and 44 in Essex between 1182 and 1272. [3] appears to be the Latin form of the name and was probably only used in writing, with being the spoken form. is an excellent Norman name early in your period or Scots name late in your period. There are a few different ways that you could create a surname to go with this name. You could choose a name for your father and create a patronymic byname (a byname identifying your father). For example, a lady named whose father was named could be called "Julian, daughter of William." In written documents, this name would be recorded in Latin as "Julian, daughter of William." Alternately, you could choose a town to live in, and create a locative byname (a byname identifying your place of residence). Someone living in Abyrnethy could have been called . For more examples of Scots surnames, we suggest you read the following article in our library. Any of the surnames listed there would be appropriate for your period, except the ones beginning "mac," for two reasons: these are specifically masculine, and they are Gaelic, and would not be appropriate in a Scots name. "13th & 14th Century Scottish Names" http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/symonFreser/scottish14/ 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, Talan Gwynek, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, and Margaret Makafee. For the Academy, --Arianuia filia Catmaili October 29, 1998 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Talan Gwynek, "A List of Feminine Personal Names found in Scottish Records" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996). [2] Talan Gwynek, "Yorkshire Given Names from 1379" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) . [3] Nicolaa de Bracton, "A Statistical Survey of Given Names in Essex Co., England, 1182-1272", Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings 1995 (SCA Inc.) http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5145/names.html