ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1426 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1426 ************************************ 11 Jan 1999 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel. You asked whether the name was appropriate for a 14th century Englishwoman of Norman and Saxon extraction. Here's what we found. The name is almost perfect for your period. We found several examples of through the 12th century (from 1200 to 1293) [1,2]. Although we found no examples of from the 14th century, we believe it is a reasonable form for the early part of that century. We found two citations for your surname from the 14th century: 1326, and 1383. [3] Given the examples above, we would recommend as a probable early 14th century name. By the 14th century, names no longer reflected Norman vs. Saxon ancestry; by the 12th century, these distinctions were already blurred. While your name certainly could have been used by someone with both Norman and Saxon ancestors, it doesn't particularly indicate that ancestry. We hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please don't hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Additional research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval d'Espas Nord and Talan Gwynek. In Service to the Academy, Margaret Makafee [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Margaret [2] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman,1997) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/reaney/]. [3] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995). s.n. Landel