ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1548 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1548 ************************************ 23 Feb 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a woman in the last five centuries of our period. This letter is a brief answer to your question. The French phrase literally means "from overseas". The word has been used over history to refer to various places: England in the 10th century, the Middle Eastern Crusader kingdoms in the 11th to 13th centuries, and the French overseas possessions in modern times. The whom you mentioned was Louis IV of France, who reigned from 936 to 954, so called because he was living in England just before he assumed the throne [3]. However, this is an English translation of his name; we're not sure what he was called during his lifetime. Since is a French word, we would expect it only to be used in French names. We haven't found any examples of it in our references, but we would not be surprised, for example, to find a 12th century Frenchman returned from the Crusades called . is derived from the name of the Greek goddess of truth. The only place we found any form of it used in our period is England at the end of the 16th century. A woman married the Earl of Arundel in 1606. The name appears to have become a bit more popular in the early 17th century. There was a Spanish princess born sometime around 1600 [1]. If you want to set your persona in England or Spain in the late 16th century, a form of this name would be a reasonable choice. Unfortunately, the surname cannot plausibly be combined with it in this context: It is a French surname that we would not expect to find much after the end of the Crusades. We also found a similar masculine name, or recorded in 5th and 6th century France [2]. The feminine certainly could also have been used, though we found no evidence of it. This period is much too early for the French ; but the equivalent Latin is quite plausible. would be a plausible 6th century name. If you particular want to use the surname , you may want to consider some other first names, ones that we've found in the Middle Ages. We found a couple fairly similar-sounding names: is recorded in the 13th century, and is a pet form of that could easily have been used at any time from the 12th century through the 14th [4, 5]. would be a reasonable name for this period. You also mentioned the name . It is an English form of the Greek , the name of a character in the Illiad, but we have no evidence that it was used in our period. It was popularized in England by the 17th century poet Lovelace [1, 6]. We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Blaise de Cormeilles, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 23 Feb 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.nn. Alethea, Althea. [2] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_ (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972), II:16. [3] _Grand Larousse Encyclope/dique en dix volumes_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1960-1964). [4] Nicolaa de Bracton, "A Statistical Survey of Given Names in Essex Co., England, 1182-1272", Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings 1995 (SCA Inc.). http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5145/names.html [5] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille_ (Librairie Acade/mique Perrin, 1997), s.n. Alet. [6] Dunkling, Leslie and William Gosling, _The New American Dictionary of First Names_ (New York: Signet Books, 1983), s.n. Althea.