ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1869 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1869 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 8 Dec 1999 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if either or would have been used by an Englishwoman from the 14th century. You also wanted to know if we could suggest some descriptive bynames so that people could distinguish you from other Marias in your area. was indeed a common name in England in the 14th century; we have a number of examples of it throughout period. [1,2] However, it is likely that this is the Latin, documentary form of the name, and that in common usage it would be a form of . We found a number of spellings in the 14th century [3,4]. The last three are diminutive forms: Mary 1272-1307 Marekyn 1390 Marion 1379 Mariot 1327, 1332 Your choice for your surname, , is an excellent surname for your period. We find it spelled as 1240, 1255, and 1311. [5] Any of these would be appropriate for the 14th century. We found a number of spellings of in period: [6,7] Salesburi 1205 Salisbir' 1206 Salisbyr' 1273 Salesbury 1327 Salysberye 1547 would be a find choice for your period; based on the above examples, is also probably reasonable. We found in 1313; this would be a fine surname for your period. Other spellings that we found are [5,6]: de Wyltesire 1273 de Wyltesyre 1273 de Wilteschire 1273 Wilteshire 1298 Because you already have two surnames, and or , there is little need for any additional ones to distinguish you from other Marias in your area. If, for example, there were two Marias living in the same town, one might be known as , "Maria the baker," while the other could be known as . 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, Juliana de Luna, Maridonna Benvenuti, Isfael ap Briafael, Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, and Catalana di Neri. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael December 8, 1999 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Academy of Saint Gabriel report 614 http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi?614+0 [2] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). [3] Talan Gwynek, "Yorkshire Given Names from 1379" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/yorkshire/]. [4] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/reaney/]. [5] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995). s.nn. Castelan, Wiltshire [6] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980). s.n. Salisbury, Wiltshire [7] Franklin, Peter, _The Taxpayers of Medieval Gloucestershire: An Analysis of the 1327 Lay Subsidy Roll with a New Edition of its Text_ (Dover, NH: Alan Sutton Publishing Inc, 1993). [8] Ekwall, Eilert, _The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names_, 4th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991). s.n. Salisbury