ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1982 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1982 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 23 Feb 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if would be an authentic name for a German member of the Teutonic Knights in the 14th century. Here is a brief letter with the information we have found. Your choice of name is nearly perfect; we just have one suggestion. In one source of Silesian names, appears two times in 1280 and once in 1407. [1] It is a fine choice for your given name. Other spellings we found are 1360 and 1352, as well as the Latin form 1200-1250. [2] The surname derives from the German word for "hare." We find it as in 1173 in Bavaria. A person surnamed could have been given this surname for a variety of reasons: it could be indicating a particular characteristic of the person or it could also refer to the profession of a hare hunter. In some cases, it also comes from the name of an inn; for example lived in the house "at the sign of the hare." is an excellent German name for your period. [3] We hope that this brief 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. Additional research and commentary on this letter was provided by Juliana de Luna and Amant le Marinier. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael --------------------------------------- References: [1] Talan Gwynek, "German Given Names 1200-1250" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/germ13/]. [2] Talan Gwynek, "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia" (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1998) [URL:http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/bahlow_v.htm]. [3] Bahlow, Hans, _Dictionary of German Names_, tr. Edda Gentry (German-American Cultural Society, 1994 ISBN: 0924119357). s.n. Hase, Haase