ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1854 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1854 ************************************ 1 Dec 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a 15th century Frenchman. This letter is a brief answer to your question. is the standard modern French form of , and this spelling is recorded as early as the 13th century in Paris [1]. It is probably appropriate for the 15th century, especially in the vicinity of Paris, but the spelling seems to have been more common. It more accurately represents the two-syllable pronunciation appropriate to your period [2, 3, 4]. Forms of were used in Old French throughout the Middle Ages. We've found this spelling recorded as early as the 14th or 15th century, along with [2]. Double given names were rare in France until after our period, and were more common in the south than the north. We therefore recommend that you choose or , but not both. Your surname, , is probably appropriate for your period. The place name appears as in 12th and 13th century records [5, 6]. The spelling developed later; we don't know exactly when. A surname based on a large place, like , was most often used by a person who had move away from his home. In Anjou, it wasn't particularly useful to identify someone as "from Anjou". If you want your persona to live in Anjou, you might want to choose a surname based on a small town or village rather than the entire region. If you want to be an expatriate, you might consider basing your surname on the adjective rather than the place name ; this was somewhat more common in medieval French. For example, we found a man surnamed in Paris in 1292, and another called in England in 1247 [1, 7]. We hope this brief 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 Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 1 Dec 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris", Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium 1996 (SCA: Montgomery, Alabama; WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html [2] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Etude d'anthroponymie picarde, les noms de personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIe, XIVe, XVe siecles_ (Amiens, Musee de Picardie, 1967). [3] Bougard, Pierre, and Maurits Gysseling, _L'Impot Royal en Artois (1295-1302): Ro^les du 100e et du 50e pre/sente/s et publie/s avec une table anthroponymique, Me/moires de la Commission Royale de Toponymie et de Dialectologie #13 (Louvain: Imprimerie Orientaliste, B.P. 41, 1970). [4] Gysseling, Maurits, and Pierre Bougard, _L'Onomastique Calaisienne a la Fin du 13e Siecle_, Onomastica Neerlandica (Leuven: Institut voor Naamkunde, 1963). [5] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963). [6] Lebel, Paul, _Les noms de personnes en France_, 6th ed. (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1968). [7] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Angwin.