ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1346
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1346
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From: "Brian M. Scott" 
1 Nov 1998

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You asked for documentation for <Eldric White> (or a close variant)
as a 12th century English name for a monk now fighting in the
Crusades.

Before I start, I'd like to clarify the service that the Academy
offers.  We try to help Societyfolk in choosing and using names that
fit the historical cultures they are trying to re-create. Our
research can sometimes be used to support submissions to the College
of Arms, but that is not our goal and our results are often
incompatible with the College's needs. If your main goal is to
register a particular name, then we may not be able to help you. 

To start with our conclusion, <Eldric White> is a possible but
unlikely form of a very authentic 12th century English man's name.
In what follows I'll discuss the evidence and recommend a variety of
more characteristic 12th century versions of the name.


The Old English name <{AE}{dh}elric> seems to be the main source of
Middle English names similar to <Eldric>.  (For the meaning of the
symbols {AE} and {dh} please see note [1].)  In Domesday Book, which
was compiled about 1086, it is found as <Ailricus>, <Eilricus>,
<Alric>, and even <{AE}ldricus>. [2, 3]  This last form shows that
<d> was occasionally inserted between <l> and <r>, probably because
the resulting combination was easier to pronounce. [4]

In the 12th and early 13th centuries we find the following forms:
<{AE}ilric> c.1100, <{AE}ilricus> c.1110 and c.1130-40, <Ailricus>
c.1110, <{AE}lricus> c.1200, and <Ailricus> c.1206.  There is also
<Elrich> from sometime before 1167; this is probably also from
<{AE}{dh}elric>. [5]  A bit later yet we find <Ailrich> and <Aldrich> 
from 1220. [6]

Our last example is <Alderyt> 1275, a scribal error for <Alderyc>,
which also appears in a byname (nickname) of the same date as
<Aldric>. [7]  Very likely this is also from <{AE}{dh}elric> and
shows the same <d>-insertion that we say in the Domesday Book
<{AE}ldricus>, though unlike that example it may be from an Old
English <Ealdric>.  (<Ealdric> is not attested, but it is consistent
with Old English name construction.) [8]

In sum we think that <Elrich>, <Elric>, <Ailric>, and <{AE}lric> are
all very supportable 12th century versions of this name.  <Eldric>,
<Eldrich>, <{AE}ldric>, <{AE}ldrich>, <Aldric>, and <Aldrich> seem
to be within the range of possible 12th century variation, but our
only examples of any of these spellings are from slightly before or
after that period, and we think that it would be slightly better
historical re-creation to use one of the <d>-less forms.


We found several 12th century forms of the byname <White>: <Uuiaett
Hwite> c.1097-1107 [9], <Lewinus Wite> c.1114, <Berwaldus le White>
1154-1189, <Elfwinus se Wite> before 1167, and <Hugo Wit> 1190. [5,
6]  The word is from Old English <hwit>, and <Hwite> is a rather
conservative spelling that is more appropriate at the beginning of
the 12th century than at any later date.  <Wite> and <Wit> seem to
be quite characteristic of the whole century, while <White> and
<Whit> are fairly rare until the next couple of centuries.  The name
appears both with and without the definite article; for the first
half of the century or so this may be either Old English <se> or
French <le>, but after that <se> was very rare.  The name without the
final <e> is pronounced \WEET\ or \HWEET\, depending on dialect; with
the <e> it becomes \WEET-a\ or \HWEET-a\.


>From the available evidence it appears that <{AE}ldric Hwite> would
be suitable for the very early 12th century.  <Ailric le Wite> and
<Ailric Wite> are very characteristic 12th century forms, and
<Aldrich le White> would not be out of place toward the end of the
century.  (These are not the only possibilities of course; other
reasonable combinations can be inferred from the earlier comments.)
<Eldric White>, however, exhibits a number of features that are not
typical of the 12th century and is therefore less satisfactory as
historical re-creation.


In your period most records were kept in Latin.  In such records
your given name would generally have been Latinized by the addition
of the grammatical suffix <-us>, as in <Ailricus>.  (Note that forms
ending in <ch> would probably lose the <h> when <-us> was added, so
that <Alrich> would become <Alricus>.)  At that early date it was
not uncommon for simple bynames to be translated into Latin.  For
example, the Uniaett Hwite mentioned above appears in other records
with the Latin byname <Albus> 'white'. [10]  Another Latin word 
sometimes used in this sense is <flavus> 'blond', usually spelled 
<flauus>; at the beginning of the 12th century the name might well 
have been written <{AE}ldricus flauus>.  By the end of your period 
it's more likely that the byname would have been left in English or 
translated into French as, say, <le Blund> 'the blond'. [6]


Maridonna Benvenuti, Ceatta o Gulcleth, and Arval Benicoeur  also
contributed to this letter.  We hope that it has been helpful and
that you won't hesitate to write again if you have any further
questions.

For the Academy,

Talan Gwynek

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References and Notes:

[1] {AE} and {dh} stand for the Old English letters 'ash' and 'edh'
respectively.  The ash is a ligature (joining) of <A> and <E> in
which the vertical line of the <E> is used as the right-hand upright
of the <A>.  It represents the sound of the <a> in <cat>.  The edh
is a <d> in which the ascender curls over to the left (like a
backwards <6>) and is crossed by a short stroke.  It represents the
sound of the <th> in <this> and <other>.

[2] von Feilitzen, Olof.  The Pre-Conquest Personal Names of
Domesday Book (Uppsala: 1937); s.n. {AE}{dh}elric.

[3] Most records at this time were written in Latin, and it was
normal scribal practice to add Latin grammatical endings to names to
facilitate their incorporation into Latin prose.  The final <-us> in
many of these citations is such an ending.

[4] The same phenomenon is seen in the word <alder>, which is from 
Old English <alor> or <aler>.

[5] Clark, Cecily.  Words, Names and History: Selected Papers.  Peter 
Jackson, ed. (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1995); pp. 296, 238, 327, 211, 
195, 191.

[6] Reaney, P.H., & R.M. Wilson.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. 
3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995); s.nn. Aldrich, 
White, Blunt.

[7] The letters <c> and <t> are very similar in many early hands.

[8] Selte/n, Bo. II s.n. Ealdric.

[9] <Uuiaett> is a misreading of (or scribal error for) <Uniaett>, 
apparently from an unattested Old English <Hungeat>.

[10] Black, George F.  The Surnames of Scotland (New York: The New 
York Public Library, 1989); s.n. Uniaet.