ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1376 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1376 ************************************ From: "S Friedemann" 30 Nov 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for a Englishwoman living between 1050 and 1300. Here is the information we have found. We found the English names in 1190 and in 1221 [1]. Either of these would be a fine name for your period; however, we have never seen any period examples of <-sande> being used instead of <-sent> or <-sant>. We suggest you use one of the historical forms for your name. You mentioned that you found in Kate Monk's Onomastikon. Unfortunately, this is not a good source for medieval names. Although it contains many names that are medieval, it also contains modern names and modern forms of medieval names. Since there is no indication as to which is which, there is no way to determine whether (or if) a particular name comes from a reliable historical source. , which we find in 1200 and 1256 in and , is an excellent surname. Both and are fine names for your period. It is perfectly fine to use the preposition before an English place name; this was standard in English until about the 14th century. 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 Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Talan Gwynek, Alan Fairfax, Arval Benicoeur, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, --Aryanhwy merch Catmael Caermyrdin November 30, 1998 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) [2] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995).