ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1837 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1837 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 19 Nov 1999 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an authentic name for an Englishman from the time of the Third Crusade. Here is the information we have found. The rule of thumb is that a name should, as a whole, be something that could exist in a single culture -- but single cultures may have name elements that originate from more than one source. The tricky part is knowing what types of elements might have been used together with a culture, and what types would not. This is why people often over-simplify the rule of thumb to "stick to one culture". History is complex, but complexity is not anarchy. is a Scottish Gaelic form of ; we don't have any evidence that it was used in England before 1600. The regular spelling , however, is found in England from the 12th century onwards. [1] The spelling of the surname meaning "of the brook" is a Low German or Dutch form; it would not have been used in an English name. There are a number of English forms of this surname though, that would be appropriate for your period: 1207, 1263, 1263, 1297, 1347, and 1376. [2,3] or would be excellent choices for your period. We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Talan Gwynek and Arval Benicoeur. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael November 19, 1999 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). [2] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995). s.n. Beck [3] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986). s.n. Beck