ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1445 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1445 ************************************ 5 Mar 1999 From: Alan Terlep Greetings, Here's what we were able to find about the name , which you wanted to use as a Faeroese name from between 1050 and 1550. We checked a list of Danish kings, and found none named . We did find several named (1). We suspect that the list you found used as an equivalent of . We don't have that much information about Faeroese names, but what we found suggests that is not a good choice for a Faeroese name. is a Scandinavian adaptation of the Slavic name and the Continental Germanic (2). We found examples of it in Denmark and Sweden, which were adjacent to Slavic and Germanic cultures, but not in Norway and Iceland. Faeroese is closely related to Norwegian and Icelandic, and so we do not think that would have been a Faeroese name. If you had a late-period persona, there is some chance that could have been imported from Danish. But this wouldn't be appropriate unless your persona dated to the end of your desired period (at least after 1400), and even then it isn't all that likely. We can suggest a number of other names that were used in Norway and Iceland, and are probably also appropriate to the Faeroes. The spellings are common forms used between 1100 and 1300--they would be appropriate for later period as well, with some modification to their spelling. (3) In these names, stands for an with a hook underneath it. is an accented . <{dh}> stands for the letter "edh," pronounced like in "that." <{th}> stands for the letter "thorn," pronounced like in "thin." * Valdi * Valbrandr * Valbjo,rn * Valgra{dh}r * Valr * Val{th}jo/fr is the German word for "of." Based on our knowledge of Old Icelandic, which is extremely similar to Old Faeroese, the appropriate word in this context is . is the modern form of the capital of the Faeroe Islands. There are records of it as far back as the 9th century. Following the spelling rules for Old Norse that were used until about 1300, the standard spelling is <{TH}o/rsho,fn>. Thus, we can suggest as an appropriate Faeroese name for the period between 1050 and 1300--you could substitute any of the first names we listed above. If you would like a later-period form of a name, let us know which given name you're interested in and we'll see what we can find. Lindorm Eriksson, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, and Hartmann Rogge contributed to this letter. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. In service, Alan Fairfax Academy of S. Gabriel (1) Wise, L.F. and Egan, E.W. (eds.)_Kings, Rulers and Statesmen_, (New York: Bantam Books, 1969, s.n. Denmark (2) Knudsen Gunnar, Marius Kristiansen, & Rikard Hornby, _Danmarks Gamle Personnavne_, Vol. I: Fornavne (Copenhagen: 1936-48)., s.n. Waldemar (3) Fleck, G. (aka Geirr Bassi Haraldsson), _The Old Norse Name_, Studia Marklandica (series) (Olney, Maryland: Yggsalr Press, 1977).