ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1859 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1859 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 22 Nov 1999 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know what the correct form of a name meaning "Lillias, daughter of John," would be for a 13th century Scottish woman living on the border. You suggested the possibility . Here is the information we have found. In 12th and 13th centuries, several languages were spoken in the area that is Scotland today. The major ones were: * Norse, spoken in the far north and the western isles. * English, spoken mainly in the southeast. * Gaelic, spoken through much of the country. * Norman French, spoken by Norman settlers and their Scoto-Norman descendents, mostly in the south. The languages were very different and had different naming customs. There was some mixing of names from the different cultures, but most names were not adopted into all of the cultures. or was originally a pet form of . However, the earliest that we found this form is in the 16th century in Scotland, and we have no evidence that it was adopted into Gaelic in period. [1] Therefore, we cannot recommend this for your name. You might be interested in the similar English names or and , recorded as early as the 13th century. These are also pet forms of , influenced by the word , a flower that was an important Christian symbol. [1] is the Gaelic word for "daughter." It would not be appropriate in a non-Gaelic name, just as is not a Gaelic name, and would therefore not be approrpriate in a Gaelic name. The modern spelling would not have been found in Scotland as early as 1350. Rather, forms such as and are more common. [2] , meaning "Lilion, daughter of Jone," would be an excellent 13th century English or Scots name, and would be appropriate for a woman living on the Scottish border. 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 Arval Benicoeur and Maridonna Benvenuti. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael November 22, 1999 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Elizabeth [2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986). s.n. Johnson