ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1904 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1904 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 3 Jan 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if would have been used by either an English/French woman or a Romany (Gypsy) woman living between 1200 and 1500. Here is the information we have found. Before I start, I'd like to clarify the service that the Academy offers. We try to help Societyfolk in choosing and using names that fit the historical cultures they are trying to re-create. Our research can sometimes be used to support submissions to the College of Arms, but that is not our goal and our results are often incompatible with the College's needs. If your main goal is to register a particular name, then we may not be able to help you We were unable to find in any of our sources. , also the name of a city in Switzerland, is a Dutch name, found recorded before 1100. [1] We have no evidence that was used as an English name until modern times. There are a number of French alternatives that would be appropriate for your period. was the patron saint of Paris, and the name was fairly popular. The diminutive form , or , pronounced \JENN-a-vo-ta\, is found in the 1292 census of Paris. [2] You may also prehaps be interested in , a short form of found in England in 1086, 1199, 1313. [3] It was pronounced \DJAY-v@\ or \DJEH-v@, where the \@\ is like the final vowel sound in or . If you'd like to consider similar, thought not French or English, names, you might be interested in the Italian names , , and . The first is found in 15th century Florence, the second two in 13th century Perugia. [4,5] These are fine Italian names for your period. Your byname, , is unlikely. We do not know of any medieval place names that have as part of their name. The modern surname derived from a byname used by someone employed at a keep or a castle, not someone who lived at a place called "Keep." There are a number of period English surnames that mean "of the keep, castle." [6,7] atte Kep 1290 ate Kepe 1327 Kep 1327 de Kepe 1332 Any of the spellings above would be a fine choice for a 13th or 14th century English surname. However, this surname would not be appropriate with either a French or an Italian given name; if you are interested in using this surname with an English given name, we suggest you browse the following article available in our library: "Feminine Given Names in A Dictionary of English Surnames" http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/reaney/ We don't know much about the naming practices of the Romany. What little we have found we have put into an article available on the web: "Romany (Gypsy) Names" http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/romany/ 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 Walraven van Nijmegen, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, and Mari Elspeth nic Bryan. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael January 3, 2000 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Walraven van Nijmegen, "Dutch Womens' Names before 1100" (WWW: privately published). http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1336/name1100vr.html [2] 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) [URL:http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html]. [3] 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/]. [4] Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of Florence of 1427" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1998) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/catasto]. [5] Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from Thirteenth Century Perugia" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/perugia/]. [6] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995). s.n. Keep [7] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980). s.n. Keep