ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1972 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1972 ************************************ 17 Mar 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a Celtic woman. If not, you wondered if you could build a name around the Welsh placename . You also expressed interest in Dutch names, specifically if the surname was used in period. Here is what we have found. Because your question is so broad, we can't cover all the possibilities. We'll give you some information in this letter; please write again for more detail on any topic. You wrote that you are interested in a Celtic persona. There was no language or culture called "Celtic" in our period. In fact, the word "Celtic" didn't exist in English until modern times. It is used by modern historians and linguists to describe a family of languages and the cultures which spoke them, including Welsh, Gaelic, Cornish, Manx, and Breton. These languages were distinct in our period, and they had very different naming practices which did not mix any more than any other two neighboring languages. The cultures which spoke them were separate, and had no sense of pan-Celtic identity. Since you specifically asked about Welsh names, we'll focus on that culture first. The only example we've found of the Welsh name is a male character mentioned in the Mabinogion, who supposedly lived in the 5th century [1]. Many of the characters in that work are mythical or allegorical, and bear names never used by real people; so without independent evidence of its use by historical people, we recommend strongly that you avoid it. The fact that it is a masculine name in Welsh makes it even less appropriate for a woman. We're not sure whether the place name existed in our period. It's not the best starting point for building your name, though: The Welsh rarely used surnames based on place names. A name like is not impossible in medieval Welsh, but it isn't a common style of naming and we don't recommend it. If you'd like more information on medieval Welsh names, we recommend this article on the web: A Simple Guide to Constructing 13th Century Welsh Names http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/welsh13.html is a modern form of one or more Dutch surnames. The word "field" existed in medieval Dutch, and the probable form of the medieval surname is or [5, 6]. Since you mentioned Dutch names and you are obviously interested in having an element of your name that means "holly", we have another possibility that may interest you. The Dutch word for "holly" is , with an umlaut (two dot) over the 'u'. The cognate German word is . We found several examples of this word used in a surname in period. There are several places called along the lower Rhine River, and we found the example 1538 in Mu"nster, and evidence of the surname "at the holly" in the same area [2]. In the Lowlands proper, we found 1281, 1295, 1298, and several towns called "at the holly" [3]. Other sources offer additional evidence of medieval and modern surnames Dutch , and and German , all of which basically mean "person who lived near the holly" [2, 4]. Combined with a German or Dutch given name, these would be fine choices. You can find some lists of German and Dutch women's given names in our medieval names archive: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Adelaide de Beaumont, Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, Talan Gwynek, Pedro de Alcazar, Mari nic Bryan, Giles Leabrook, Walraven van Nijmegen, Amant le Marinier, and Julie Stampnitzky. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 17 Mar 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Jones, Gwyn & Thomas Jones, trans., _The Mabinogion_ (Everyman's Library, 1974). [2] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960), s.nn. Hu"ls, Hu"lst. [3] Debrabandere, F., _Kortrijkse Naamkunde 1200-1300, met een kumulatief familienamenregister_, Anthrophonymica XXII (Leuven : Instituut voor Naamkunde : Peeters, 1980), p.86 #407-9. [4] Beele, Wilfried, _Studie van de Ieperse Persoonsnamen uit de Stads- en Baljuwsrekeningen 1250-1400_ (Handzame, 1975), index. [5] Calisch, I. M., _Nieuw Volledig Engelsch-Nederlansch en N-E Woordenboek_, 2nd ed. (Amsterdam: H.C.A. Campagne & Zoon, 1892), s.v. kamp. [6] Verdam, J., _Middelnederlandsch Handwoordenboek_ (Leiden, Antwerpen: Martinus Nijhoff, repr. 1981), s.v. camp(e).