ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1421 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1421 ************************************ 17 Jan 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether was used as a woman's name in period. Here is what we have found. We found evidence in only one language of a word meaning "autumn" being used as a given name. The Latin and were used as cognomina (nicknames or epithets) in the Late Roman period, i.e. 400-600 [1]. Many cognomina were used as given names, and although we do not have evidence that these examples were used that way, it is not implausible. They could possibly have continued in use into the 8th or 9th century in Italy and France, but not later. If you're interested in choosing a name to fit some part of this period, let us know when and where, and we'll help you fill in the rest of the details. We find no evidence that any later-period name derived from . The English given name arose independently, being simply the season-name used as a given name. It did not come into use until the 20th century [2]. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Lindorm Eriksson, Walraven van Nijmegen, Teceangl Bach, and Aelfwyn aet Gyrwum. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 17 Jan 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Solin, Heikki & Olli Salomies, _Repertorium Nominum Gentilium et Cognominum Latinorum_ (Hildesheim: Olms-Weidmann, 1988). [2] Dunkling, Leslie and William Gosling, _The New American Dictionary of First Names_ (New York: Signet Books, 1983).