ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2063 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2063 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 24 Apr 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if would be a correct name for a Russian Gypsy woman living between 1100 and 1550. Here is a brief letter with the information we have found. Very little is known about medieval Gypsy naming practices. As far as we can tell, Gypsies usually had two names: a name that was known and used only with the circle of their family, and a name that would be appropriate for the outer culture they lived within. For more information on Gypsy naming practices, we recommend the following article: "Romany (Gypsy) Names" http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/romany/ Your choice of name, however, is nearly perfect for Russian culture in your period. We have only one minor change to recommend. Both and were used in your period; we find them in 1225 and 1319 respectively. [1] For your surname, a more authentic form than would be , without the . We first find the ending <-ovna> used in the 16th century; prior to that, the suffix meaning "daughter of" was spelled <-ova>. [1] is an excellent Russian feminine name for your period. 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. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Maire inghean Bhriain, Juliana de Luna, and Julie Stampnitzky. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 25Apr00 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Paul Wickenden of Thanet, "A Dictionary of Period Russian Names" (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1996) [URL:http://www.sca.org/heraldry/paul/]. s.nn. Anastasiia, Mikhail