ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2055 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2055 ************************************ 26 Apr 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a man living along the Scottish-English border in the first half of the 12th century. This letter is a brief answer to your question. The modern region of Scotland was home to several cultures in our period, each of which had its own language and naming practices. The most important of these languages were Gaelic, spoken through much of the country; Old English, spoken primarily in the southeast; Old Norse, spoken in the far north and the western isles; and Norman French, spoken by Norman settlers and their Scoto-Norman descendents, who lived mostly in the south. A name can be authentic only in the context of a particular culture and language. is a Scots or English rendering of the Gaelic name [1]. It is recorded in English documents as in 1086, 1207, and in the Latinized form 1303 [2]. We are not sure whether the name was used by anyone other than a Gael as early as the 12th century. The earliest examples we've found of the surname were recorded in 1371 and 1379. It derived from the Anglo-Norman word "forester", which is recorded in England as a byname shortly after the Norman Conquest as , , and in 1273 in the names , , [3, 4]. We believe that these forms are more appropriate for your period than the contracted spelling . The two names you want to combine are derived from different languages, so we need to consider what sort of man might have been identified by this combination and in what circumstances. The Norman byname implies either that he is a Norman himself, or that this is a name used to identify him in Norman French. The Gaelic-derived given name implies that he is a Gael. In the 12th century, there was considerable commerce between Gaels and Normans, so this is an entirely reasonable possibility. Given this context, we can recommend as a historically appropriate name. However, note that this is not a name that would have been used in Gaelic. If you're interested in information about Gaelic names, please write us again. Latin was the most common written language in 12th century Scotland. Your name might have been recorded in Latin as . We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Adelaide de Beaumont, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 26 Apr 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [2] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Malcolm. [3] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980), s.n. Foster. [4] Tengvik, Goesta, _Old English Bynames_ (Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells Boktryckeri-A.-B., 1938), s.n. Forestarius.