ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1681 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1681 ************************************ 18 May 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a man from 16th century France or Flanders. Here is what we have found. is a fine choice. We found examples in 16th century Flanders and Normandy [1, 2]. We didn't quite understand what you want your surname to mean. You said that you want to use as a "locative adjective". is the French word for "white". "Locative" means "referring to a location", so perhaps you want your name to mean "the man from Blanc". Unfortunately, we found no place in France or Flanders called , and we don't think it is a likely period place name. We did find some place names which are compounds of the word . If you'd like, we can send you a list of some of them. "white" was a common French surname, recorded in a variety of forms. or "Gabriel the White" would be fine names for your period [3]. You could also use . also means "the white"; it's the feminine form of . We found an early 15th century example of a man called ; we don't know why a man was identified with a feminine surname, but it was done so you could do it, too [4]. The phrase or would not have been written as a single word in our period. If you particularly want a Flemish surname, you might use . That surname, which also meant "white", was recorded in 16th century Bruges. Or you might use , with a surname recorded in Bruges in 1588 [1]. This one has nothing to do with "white", but we thought it might appeal to you. It actually derives from a medieval man's name and would have indicated that your father's name was . The spelling is Dutch rather than French; the same name appears in French as 1430 [4]. would be an excellent late-period northern French name. In your letter, you noted that you don't want to use in your name because your persona is not a land-owner. In fact, does not imply land-ownership or nobility. It simply means "from" and was used by people of all classes to indicate where they lived or were born. If there were a place called , then would be a fine surname for your period. But since we didn't find any such place, we recommend against using this surname. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. Walraven van Nijmegen assisted me in answering this question. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 19 May 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Luana de Grood, "Flemish Given Names from Bruges, 1400-1600", (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/bruges/ [2] Cateline de la Mor, "Sixteenth Century Norman Names" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/cateline/norman16.html [3] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.n. Blanc. [4] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Etude d'anthroponymie picarde, les noms de personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIe, XIVe, XVe siecles_ (Amiens, Musee de Picardie, 1967).