ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1794 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1794 ************************************ 10 Oct 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wrote on behalf of your own client, asking whether or was used as a given name in England in the 13th or 14th century. You wrote that you were told it was the name of a 13th century Thane of Densby who was executed by the English. We did not find evidence to support or as a medieval English given name. We checked briefly for a historical reference to a 13th century thane of Densby, but we found nothing. may be an error for or , both in Yorkshire; but we didn't find anyone connected with either of those places who might have been the man your client had in mind. If you can find more information about where your client found his name, we might be able to help him. We did find a very similar English surname. or was recorded in Leicestershire in 1379. In the same community at the time there were also men identified as or , [1]. We believe that derives from the Old French "small oak grove" [2]. If your client choose a given name appropriate to 13th or 14th century England, would be a fine surname. He may be interested in setting his persona in Sutton Cheney, in Sparkenhoe Hundred, Leicester, where our examples were recorded. You can find lists of English given names from this period on the web in our Medieval Names Archive, http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names. We hope this 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 and Margaret Makafee. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 10 Oct 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Fenwick, Carolyn C. ed., _The Poll Taxes of 1377, 1379, and 1381, Part I: Bedfordshire-Leicestershire_, Series: Records of Social and Economic History, new series 27 (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1998, ISBN: 0-197-26186-8), p.582, col.1. [2] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.n. Chesnel.