ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1734 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1734 ************************************ 7 May 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a late 16th century Englishwoman. This letter is a brief answer to your question. We found no evidence that was used in our period. It was probably familiar to medieval society, since the story of Alexander the Great was a popular material for medieval romances. One of the romances of Alexander refers to his wife as [1]. (The slash represents an accent on the previous letter.) However, we only found modern examples of the name used by real people, so we do not recommend it as good re-creation. Your client may be interested in the similar-sounding name , which is recorded in 16th century England [2]. is an excellent surname for your client's period. The name is recorded in that spelling in 1529, as well as in the 13th and 14th century [3, 4]. is a fine 16th century English name. For future reference: We prefer to work directly with the client in order to minimize the chances of any mis-interpretation when information is passed through a second party. If your clients have e-mail or web access, we would prefer that you put them in touch with us directly. If not, or if you have questions for your own education, please do not hesitate to submit questions yourself. 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. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 7 May 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Flutre, Louis-Fernand, _Table des noms propres avec toutes leurs variantes, figurant dans les romans du Moyen Age e/crits en franc,ais ou en provenc,al et actuellement publie/s ou analyse/s_ (Poitiers: Centre d'e/tudes supe/rieures de civilisation me/die/vale, 1962). [2] Talan Gwynek, "Late Sixteenth Century English Given Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/eng16/ [3] Julian Goodwyn, "Brass Enscription Index" (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/brasses [4] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Greenway.