ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1795 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1795 ************************************ 13 Dec 1999 From: Alan Terlep Greetings, Here's the information we found about the name , which you wanted to use as a Frisian name, either in the 8th or 13th centuries. Our information on Frisian names is limited, but we believe that would be a reasonable Frisian name from the 13th century, although the form would be more probable. For the 8th century, the single name or would be more historically accurate. It's difficult for us to say very much about Frisian names from the period you're interested in because the sources for Frisian names are limited. The problem is further complicated by the fact that until 1300 most Frisian names are recorded in Latin-language documents. When we look at these names, we have to extrapolate the original forms of these names from the Latin records. is a variant of the name , forms of which appear in many Germanic languages. The earliest citation for this name that we could trace to the area around Friesland dates only to the 10th century--we found the name in a Latin-language document from this period. (1) However, Latin records from other areas include many other forms of , including: (2) 826: Lie/ge, Belgium 828, 866, 880 (the third is from Stavelot in modern Belgium) 862: Troyes 893: the area of Koblenz and Trier 10th c.: Ghent 865: Saint-Omer (Pas de Calais) 924: Ni^mes 860: Autun 793: Gorze, SE of Metz Although we can't reach any definite conclusions with such a small sample, the first six of these nine citations come from northern France and Belgium. This suggests that might be particularly approprite for this and neighboring areas (including Friesland). The two citations for and show that was sometimes modified to even at a fairly early period. We looked at other Frisian names starting with , mostly from a later period, and found that the was usually not dropped. (3) Still, while is definitely less common than the standard , it is a reasonable variation for either of your desired periods. is a patronymic byname derived from the Frisian name . A patronymic is a name that identifies a person's father, like . is the possessive form of the Frisian name , equivalent to in English. (4) A man named who was the son of a man named could be called . We didn't find any bynames at all in 8th-century Friesland--in that period, an individual was identified with only one name. Bynames weren't even that common in the 13th century, but a large proportion of the people who did have a byname had a patronymic. (5) Thus the patronymic would be appropriate for the 13th century, but no byname of any type is appropriate for the 8th century. We found a record of a man named from 1387--his name also appears in a Latin-language record as . This shift from to is another characteristic that distinguishes Frisian from other languages. (6) We found examples of this shift from to by 14th century; it may have been happening in the 13th century as well. (7) Given this evidence, we can say that appears to be accurate for the 13th century. The alternative form is also historically accurate, though it would be a rarer version. For the 8th century, we recommend that you use the given name or , with no byname. We should mention that the SCA does not register given names without bynames--however, bynames are not historically accurate for an 8th-century Frisian. Turning to your arms, we don't have any evidence that Frisians used heraldry during your desired period. Heraldic arms were invented in northwestern France in the mid-12th century and spread gradually to other areas of Europe. Thus, an 8th century Frisian would certainly not have used heraldry. Arms may not have been used in Friesland in the 13th century either. We found a 14th-century collection of arms from many French and Dutch regions, but it doesn't include any arms from Friesland. (8) This could be a coincidence, but it could also indicate that heraldry wasn't used in Friesland at this time. This doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't use arms in the Society: Many Societyfolk use arms even though their personas would not have done so. Whether you use arms or not depends on how you think about authenticity and your persona. You can find a few thoughts on this issue in an article we've posted on the web: What Do I Use for Arms if my Persona Wouldn't Have Used Arms? http://www.s-gabriel.org/faq/nonheraldic.html Walraven van Nijmegen, Raquel Buenaventura, Juliana de Luna, Amant le Marinier, Barak Raz, Adeleide de Beaumont, Blaise de Cormeilles, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicouer, and Hartmann Rogge contributed to this letter. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Your servant, Alan Fairfax Academy of S. Gabriel (1) Tavernier-Vereecken, C., _Gentse Naamkunde van ca. 1000 tot 1253: een bijdrage tot de kennis van het oudste middelnederlands_ (Belgium: 1968), 102. (2) Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_, three volumes (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972), I:95b (3) Winkler, Johan, _De Nederlandsche Geslachtsnamen: in oorsprong, geschiedenis en beteekenis_ (Haarlem, 1885; repr. 1971). His examples, all from the 15th and 16th centuries, include , , , and . (4) Lockwood, G. B., _An Informal History of the German Language_ (Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, 1965), passim. (5) Stark, Franz, _Die Kosenamen der Germanen_ (Wiesbaden: Dr. Martin Sa:ndig oHG., 1967 [1868]), passim. (6) Lockwood, passim. (7) Stark, 171. (8) Bibliothe\que royale Albert Ier, _Gelre_ (Leuven: Jan van Helmont, 1992).