ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1974
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1974
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11 Apr 2000
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Remy the Panther> or <Remy the Grey Panther> is an
appropriate name for a Frenchman living around 1300.  Here is what we have
found.

Your given name <Remy> is perfect for your period; we found examples in
Paris in 1292 and in other parts of northern France as early as the 9th
century.  The name was also spelled <Remi> [1, 2].

Descriptive nicknames based on animal names were not uncommon in French in
your period: <Ayoul le Lievre> "the hare", <Jehans Fouinons> "weasel" [1,
9].  Many of these bynames survived to evolve into modern surnames [3].
Several were carried to England by the French-speaking Normans, where we
found <Robert le Cat> 1167, <Geoffrey Chat> 1190-1200, <Adam le Chat> 1203
[4].  We also found evidence of <le Lion> [5].  The Old French word for
"the" (masculine form) was <li>, so <Remy li Cat> or <Remi li Lion> would
be fine names for your period.

The Old French <la pantere> "the panther" appeared in a bestiary as early
as your period, but only to describe a mythical beast.  The real animal was
not known in Western Europe until much later [6, 7].  We found no evidence
of a medieval byname meaning "the panther" and we consider it very
unlikely.  We also found no evidence of medieval French compound bynames
with meanings like "the Black Cat" [8].


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 Talan Gwynek and Adelaide de
Beaumont.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  11 Apr 2000


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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, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de
l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle_ (Paris: Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique, 1972), III:168.

[3] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et
Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987).  Examples include
<Leloutre> "the otter", <Lechevrel> "the goat", <Lecigne> "the swan",
<Leleu> "the wolf", <Leveau> "the calf".

[4] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_
(London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.nn. Catt.

[5] Dauzat, op. cit., s.n. Lion.

[6] Robert, Paul, _Le Petit Robert 1: Dictionnaire alphabe/tique et
analogique de la langue franc,ais_ (Paris: Le Robert, 1985),
s.n. panthe\re.

[7] _The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary_ (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1973), s.n. panther.

[8] Compounds of this sort were occasionally used in English,
e.g. <Gralamb> 1270, <Whitehors> 1331; but these appear to refer to
possessions rather than personal characteristics, so they aren't a good
model for the name you want to construct.  Jo:nsjo:, Jan, _Studies on
Middle English Nicknames_, v.1 Compounds (CWK Gleerup).

[9] De Joinville, Jean, _Histoire de Saint Louis_, M. Natalis de Wailly,
ed. (Paris, 1874), ch.392.