ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1479 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1479 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* From: 11 Apr 1999 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us about a Byzantine woman's name for the period from 550 to 1000 AD. You were interested in the name , and especially the given name . You were concerned also that the meaning of the name might bar registration. 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. You asked whether this name would pass. We actually don't try to figure out whether a name will pass, but whether it's appropriate for your specific period. The SCA has fairly lenient rules for passing names, so it's possible to pass many names which aren't historically accurate. If having this name is more important to you than having a historical name, then you should consult another group (such as the SCA heralds newsgroup at alt.heraldry.sca) to find out whether your name will pass. Or go to http://www.best.com/~sgold/sources.html where you can find your kingdom's mailing list (if there is one) and other resources. We did not find evidence of the name being used in Byzantium. The similar masculine name was used in early medieval Byzantium and and in later medieval Byzantium, and it was rather common to feminize masculine names in Latin by changing the final '-os' or '-us' to an '-a'. Indeed, as you found, is a Byzantine woman's name. However, neither <-isa> nor <-issa> is a standard feminine suffix for Greek given names, so we're not sure of the origin of the name. We did find more than one saint named , including a Roman martyr who died in 304, a Benedictine abbess in Germany who died in 780, and a woman who was martyred in the region of Yugoslavia at an unknown date [1,2]. We could not find evidence that this name was used in Byzantium. However, the name shows up in both Russian (as ) and in Polish (as ) as early as the 13th century [3,4]. This name is clearly the same as , and like many other names of Greek origin may have been borrowed from Byzantine culture. Certainly a woman named for a martyr would not have been out of place in Byzantium of your period. The fact that this name is related to the word for "queen" should not be a problem for registration, and based on this evidence from neighboring cultures we think might make a reasonable Byzantine name. In medieval Byzantium, women of the aristocracy were most often described by a single given name, without any surname. It would be perfectly authentic for your persona never to be called anything other than . When women needed to be distinguished further, they were described as their fathers' daughters or their husbands' wives. For example, "Helena daughter of Artavasdos", "daughter of Ingerinos", , widow of a nobleman named [5]. As for the rest of your name, we found the name used by a Byzantine woman of the 11th century [7, 8], and thus is a fine name. However, the way that you have used it looks like you have two first names, one of them being a "middle" name. The Byzantines did not use middle names, so we would recommend that you use either or , but not both in the same name. We also recommend strongly against a byname like . This is more typical of modern fantasy fiction than of Byzantine naming practices. The word derives from Greek , a diminutive of . We can suggest something which sounds similar: "Basilisa, daughter of Basileios" might have been called . Family names began to appear in Byzantine records in the 8th century but did not become generally popular until the 10th century. Until much later in period, though, family names were used only by men; women were identified by a relationship to a man [3]. We did find evidence that a name like might be a family name. is a feminine form of the family name [7], and has the same ending. With this information, we think the name would be a fine woman's name for the late Byzantine Empire. If none of these options appeals to you, then our best suggestion is that you choose one of the given names or , choose a given name for your father, and use it to construct your surname. You can find lists of Byzantine men's names in two on-line articles by Bardas Xiphias [6,7]. If you need assistance converting your father's given name into a last name for yourself, please write us again, and we can provide this information to you quickly. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Arval Benicoeur, Zenobia Naphtali, Talan Gwynek, Alan Fairfax, Teceangl Bach, Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael Caermyrdin, and Blaise de Cormeilles contributed to this letter. In service, --Walraven van Nijmegen Academy of S. Gabriel [1] _Catholic Online: Saints & Angels_ http://saints.catholic.org/ [2] Donald Attwater, _The Penguin Dictionary of Saints_, 2nd ed. (New York: Penguin Books, 1983). [3] Paul Wickenden of Thanet, _A Dictionary of Period Russian Names_ (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1996) s.n. Vasilisa http://www.sca.org/heraldry/paul/ [4] Witold Taszycki (ed.), _Slownik Staropolskich Nazw Osobowych_, 7 vols. (Wroclaw: Zaklad Narodowy Imienia Ossolin'skich, Polska Akademia Nauk, 1965-1987) s.n. Wasylowa [5] Jean-Claude Cheynet, "L'Anthroponymie Aristocratique a\ Byzance" in Bourin, Monique, Jean-Marie-Martin, and Francois Menant, eds., _L'Anthroponymie: Document de l'Histoire Sociale des Mondes Me/diterrane/ens Me/die/vaux_, Collection de l'E/cole Franc,aise de Rome, 226 (Rome: E/cole Franc,aise de Rome, 1996), pp.267-294 [6] Bardas Xiphias, "Common Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the 6th and 7th Centuries" (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/byzantine/early_byz_names.html [7] Bardas Xiphias, "Personal Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the Later Byzantine Era" (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/byzantine/introduction.html [8] See also Academy report 1150, http://www.s-gabriel.org/1150. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Addendum, 7 Jan 2002, Arval: Added reference to report 1150.