ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2056 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2056 ************************************ 15 May 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a woman born in England in 1530 to an English mother surnamed and a French father surnamed . Here is what we have found. is a fine choice. Our sources from your period record women named , as well as other spellings of the name including , , , and [1, 2, 3, 4]. Your source for proves that it is a fine choice, too [5]. is an exemplary 16th century English name. Your second surname is problematic. This document where you found it records names from late-period Bruges, and contains a mixture of French and Dutch names. is not French; it is Dutch and means "the winter" [6]. happens also to be an English surname, recorded in 1546 [4], so is also a fine choice for your culture, but not . And although it is common in the Society and in modern fiction to choose two surnames to illustrate both parents' lineages, that wasn't done in period English names. In your period, the English used single surnames, usually inherited from their father's, much as in modern English. We therefore recommend that you choose one surname or the other. 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 Adelaide de Beaumont, Mari neyn Brian, Talan Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 15 May 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Brooke, J.M.S., and A.W.C. Hallen, A. W. C., _The Transcript of the Registers of the United Parishes of S. Mary Woolnoth and S. Mary Woolchurch Haw, in the City of London, from their Commencement 1538 to 1760_ (London: Bowles & Sons, 1886). occurs in entries for 1556, 1558. [2] _The Parish Registers of St. Michael, Cornhill, London, Containing the Marriages, Baptisms, and Burials from 1546 to 1754_, partly edited by Joseph Lemuel Chester. The Publications of the Harleian Society: Registers, Vol. VII (London: 1882). occurs in entries for 1596. [3] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Ellen. [4] Gray, Irvine and J. E. Gethyn-Jones, editors, _The Registers of the Church of St. Mary's, Dymock, 1538-1790_ (The Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 1960), pp. 9, 21, 22. [5] Julian Goodwyn, "Brass Enscription Index" (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/brasses [6] Luana de Grood, "Flemish Given Names from Bruges, 1400-1600", (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/bruges/