ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2102 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2102 ************************************ 6 Jul 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked if we could suggest a feminine given name that sounds similar to and is appropriate for England or Italy c.1400, to be combined with the surname . You thought might derive from Old English. Here is what we have found. We found no Old English name that was at all similar to [1]. The most similar English names we've found are: Laurencia 1201, 1296 Laurentia 1327 Lauretta 1185, 1203-15 Loreta 1332 Loretta 1219 In Italian, we found recorded in the 13th century, and in the the early 15th century, both in central Italy [2, 3]. There is a modern Italian name which may well have been used in our period [4]. Given the popularization of the name by Petrarch, we think is most likely to have been used in northern Italy during the Renaissance. Your surname, , follows a common style of naming in the Society, but this is unfortunately not a style we've found in our period. The basic problem is that isn't the sort of name that was used for a noble household or extended family in medieval England. Historical households were typically identified simply by the noble title of their leader, like "the house of York". On the other hand, the English sometimes created bynames from the names of inns, shops, or houses. We find the names "Richard at the Star" in 1332, 1355 "William Seven-star", and 1384, all probably derived from shop or inn signs and given to men who lived near or worked at those businesses [5]. It is entirely plausible that there might have been an inn called the Black Star. If so, it could have produced the byname around 1300 and the family name by 1400. is an entirely reasonable English name for your period. Unfortunately, we didn't find an analogous pattern of surnaming in period Italian. 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 Maridonna Benvenuti, Julie Stampnitzky, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 6 Jul 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] There was a Middle English name , which was recorded as 1202, 1332, 1211. It was not uncommon for medieval English scribes to use the letter to represent the sound \v\; 1275 is a better guide to how the name was pronounced. The name derived from the Old English name . (The slashes in this name represent acute accent marks on the preceding letters.) Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997), s.n. Leverun. http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/reaney/ [2] Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from Thirteenth Century Perugia" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/perugia/ [3] Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of Florence of 1427" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1998). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/catasto [4] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei nomi italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1992), s.n. Laura. [5] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Starr.