ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1731 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1731 ************************************ 14 May 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a woman living in 13th or 14th century Carmarthen. This letter is a brief answer to your question. The exact form of the name isn't right for your period, but the basic idea is sound for an Englishwoman living in late medieval Wales. The name does not appear to have been adopted by the Welsh by your period, but it was extremely popular among the English. The spelling isn't possible, though: represented a different sound from in both medieval English and Welsh, so they aren't interchangeable. We found a 13th century example of the English , though, which is pretty similar [1]. Other spellings from your period include: Caterina 1214, 1327 Katerine 1286 Kateryna 1296 Katharine 1295, 1327 Katherine 1316, 1325, 1392 There were also numerous pet forms of the name, including 1275, 1279, 1177, and 1379 [7]. is a Latin form of a name that appeared in Middle English variously as , and . In particular, we found two examples of the name used as a surname, 1279 and 1332 [2, 3, 4]. In both cases, the surname probably identifies the man's father; i.e. was understood as "William, Ambroys' son". We didn't find any examples of this name in Welsh, by the way, for anyone other than early legendary characters. We would not recommend it as part of a Welsh name. appears to be a variant of the original, Classical Latin name for the town that became medieval Carmarthen. The ancient name was not used in our period. The town is mentioned in medieval English and Welsh records as [5]: Cairmerdin (1158-59) Kairmardhin, Kairmerdhin (1188) Kair Mer{dh}in (c.1205) Kaermerdin (1242) Kermerdyn (1330) A 12th century Latin document called it [6]. The symbol {dh} represents the letter edh, written like a backward 6 with a crossbar on the ascender, and pronounced like the in . Putting it all together, would be a typical name for an Anglo-Welsh woman of your period. If your name were recorded in a Latin document, the scribe would very likely have Latinized it. For example, we found the name recorded in 1273; this man was probably known in English as [4]. Your name might have become "Caterine daughter of Ambrose of Kermerdyn". 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 the Three Welsh Academy Members: Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Tangwystyl ferch Morgant Glasvryn, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 14 May 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Talan Gwynek, "Given Names from Early 13th Century England" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/eng13/ [2] 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 [3] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Ambrose. [4] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Ambrose. [5] Johnston, James B., _Place Names of England and Wales_ (London: Bracken Books, 1994 [1915]); author's name 'Johnson' on some editions. [6] Evans, J. Gwenogvryn, _The Text of the Book of Llan Dav_ (Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales, 1979) (Facsimile of the 1893 Oxford edition). [7] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/reaney/