ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1780 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1780 ************************************ 2 Nov 1999 From: Alan Terlep Greetings, Here's what we found out about the name , which you wanted to use as a man's name from late 16th-century England. The earliest reference we found to the name in England is from 1639. (1) Even though this is later than your period, we think it is likely that was already used as a name in the late 16th century." is a variant of the name English name . We haven't found a reference for from before 1800, and we know of at least one family that changed the spelling of their name from to in the early 1800's. (2) It is possible that some modern examples of the name derive from other sources as well, but we didn't find any other sources for the name. The earliest reference to we found only goes back to 1672, when a man named , who lived in a village called Minshull Vernon in Cheshire, recorded his will. (3) However, we found another source which says that comes from the name of a field called that's also in Minshull Vernon, Cheshire. (4) The meaning of the name is not clear, but are sure that the field name pre-dates 1600. Thus, it is almost certain that the surname , derived from this field name, also pre-dates 1600. So even though we don't have any actual references, we believe that would be an appropriate name for an Englishman from the late 16th century. Margaret Makafee, Juliana de Luna, Maridonna Benvenuti, Catalana di Neri, Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, Arval Benicoeur, and Talan Gwynek contributed to this letter. We hope that this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Your servant, Alan Fairfax Academy of S. Gabriel November 3, 1999 (1) Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Justin (2) Turley, Terry. Post on "Eaches Family Geneaology Forum," October 17, 1999. [URL:http://genforum.genealogy.com/eachus/] (3) Chesire Record Office. "Cheshire Wills" (WWW: Chesire Record Office, 1997) Accessed October 22, 1999. [URL:http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/blangston/chswills] (4) Cottle, Basil. The Penguin Dictionary of Surnames, 2nd ed. (New York: Penguin,1984), s.n. Eaches.