ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1825 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1825 ************************************ 15 Dec 1999 From: Erica Neely Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked about the appropriateness of the names and for an early to mid 15th century Welsh or Scottish man. Since is of Welsh origin, we have focused on that language. Here is what we have found. We could not find any examples of in Welsh records of the time. It did appear occasionally in England throughout the Middle ages, but did not become common until the 17th century. [1, 2] We do not recommend it as a good choice for 15th century Wales. , on the other hand, was consistently one of the two most popular male names in Wales during your period; it would be an excellent choice. was the usual written form of the name in your period. [3] Surnames formed by adding <-s> to a given name, like , were quite rare in Welsh before the 16th century, hence is not a good choice for your period. It would be a fine choice for the 16th century. If you prefer a 15th century name, you might consider which means "son of Ieuan." , the most common Welsh form of for your period, is the ultimate root of ; this would allow you to retain the same root as the name you were interested in. was pronounced somewhere between \YEH-wahn\ and \YEH-vahn\. We also found one instance in 1418 of the surname from near the Hereford border. [4] It is possible that could have been used in English-language records in Wales in your period; but because we found only one example of this type of surname in your period, we can't recommend it as the best re-creation. In summary, would be a fine name for a 15th century Welshman. might be possible as well. would be appropriate beginning in the 16th century. seems quite unlikely for either period. I hope this letter has been useful; please contact us again if you have further questions or if any part of this letter has been unclear. AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, Maridonna Benvenuti, Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, Arval Benicoeur, Barak Raz, Juliana de Luna, Talan Gwynek, and Tangwystyl verch Morgant assisted me in the researching and writing of this letter. For the Academy, Catalana di Neri, 15 December 1999 ---- References: [1] - Postles, David A., "Lincolnshire Lay Subsidy" (WWW: Self-published, March 1998) [URL:http://www.le.ac.uk/elh/pot/lincers.html]. [2] - Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Paul [3] - Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "Names and Naming Practices in the Anglesey Submissions of 1406", in "Y Camamseriad" issue 4, Summer, 1996. [4] - Morgan, T.J. and Prys Morgan, _Welsh Surnames_ (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1985). s.n. Ieuan.