ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2083 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2083 ************************************ 23 May 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if was ever used as a given name in the British Isles before 1600. Here is a brief letter with the information we have found. We have not found any evidence that was used as a given name in period. We did find used as a surname in England as early as 1601, derived from the place name in Somerset, near Bath. It was not uncommon for surnames ending <-ston> to evolve to <-son> [1, 2]. derives from an Old English phrase that meant "settlement where calves were reared" [3]. In modern times, the practice of using surnames as given names has become fairly popular; , , and were all originally surnames. However, this practice was unknown until quite late in our period and rare even then. We don't recommend it as the best re-creation unless you know that this particular surname was used as a given name in your period. If you are interested in choosing a different, authentic name, we recommend that you browse the articles in our library, available on line at http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs and http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names We're sorry that we were unable to help you, and we hope that you will not hesitate to write again if any part of this letter was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Maridonna Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, and Julie Stampnitzky. For the Academy, Aryanhwy merch Catmael 23 May 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Hitching, F. K., and S. Hitching, _References to English Surnames in 1601 and 1602_. (Walton-on-Thames, 1910-11; Baltimore: republished for the Clearfield Company, Inc. by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1998, ISBN 0-8603-0181-3), s.n. Kelson. [2] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980), s.n. Kelston, Kelson. [3] Ekwall, Eilert, _The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names_, 4th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), s.n. Kelston.