ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1591
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1591
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From: 
8 Apr 1999


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked us about the early 15th century Dutch name <Jan van Ghent>
and the arms: "Ermine on a chief embattled gules three fleurs-de-lys Or"

The name <Jan> is the most common name by far in Dutch from 1250 through
the end of the 16th century [1,2].  The byname <van Ghent> means "from
Ghent" and is a typical form of Dutch name [3].  In short, your name is
just fine.

However, we would like to clarify for you that someone using the byname
<van Ghent> would likely have been from Ghent, but living someplace else. 
If you want to live in Ghent, then you should pick a different sort of
byname.  Write us again with ideas if you would like to pursue this
possibility.  Good choices would include a byname identifying your father
or your occupation. 

Overall, the design of your arms is excellent for your period.  However,
we haven't seen an example of a embattled chief in Dutch armory, so we
suggest you consider another variant of chief.  With a plain-edged
chief your design would be too similar to existing Society arms [4], so
we suggest that you consider using an indented chief, as this more closely
resembles the style of heraldry used in the Low Countries.

If you prefer a plain (straight-edged) chief, then you could change the
set of charges on it to avoid conflict.  Here are some possibilities which
are appropriate to your culture: 

  a lion passant
  a demi-lion issuant from the line of division
  a barrulet dancetty (a thin horizontal zig-zag line)
  two spur rowels (six-pointed stars with holes in the center)
  three mullets (stars) of eight points
  three escallops (scallop shells)
  three mallets (hammers)
  three martlets (a kind of bird)
  three lion's heads

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.
Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Teceangl Bach, Zenobia Naphtali, Blaise de
Cormeilles, and Jehan fitz Gilbert contributed to this letter.

In service,
--Walraven van Nijmegen
Academy of S. Gabriel

[1] Luana de Grood, _Flemish Names from Bruges: 1400-1600_ 
    http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/bruges/ 

[2] Wilfried Beele, _Studie van de Ieperse Persoonsnamen uit de Stads- en
    Baljuwsrekeningen 1250-1400"  Familia et Patria. (1975) 

[3] We found the following spellings of <van Ghent>:

       <van Ghendt>  1567  [1]
       <van gent>   <1400  [2, p.129]

    We also found the following names meaning "from Gent bridge" in
    C. Tavernier-Vereecken, _Gentse Naamkunde van ca. 1000 tot 1253_
    (Belgisch Interuniv. Centrum voor Neerlandistiek, 1968) p.395

       <Walwain de Gentbrugge>   1163
       <Zoetewif de Ghenbrughe>  1169
       <Ghentbrughe>             1234

    This demonstrates that <g> and <gh> are regional variants in spelling
    and justifies the spelling with a 'gh'.  We found the same inter-
    changability in 14th century names in G.M. Van der Velden, _Het Oudste
    Cijnregister van de Abdij van Berne uit 1376_  ('s-Hertogenbosch:
    Rijksarchief in Noord-Brabant, 1982) 

    examples:
       <Gerardus> - <Gherardus>
       <Gertrudis> - <Gheertrudis>

[4] Bryce de Byram "Checky sable and Or, on a chief gules three 
    fleurs-de-lis Or", with a single CD for changing the field.