ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2133 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2133 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 5 Nov 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if the feminine was used in Holland or Belgium between 1400 and 1600. You also asked for suggestions for appropriate surnames for those places. Here is the information we have found. You asked us about a name from "Holland or Belgium." We'd like to be certain you know that Belgium did not exist as a country until the 19th century, and that Holland is a province that today is a part of the country of The Netherlands. In your period, there existed seventeen states including Holland, Flanders, Friesland, Hainault, and others that were collectively referred to as the Low Countries, and whose political ties and allegiances changed rather frequently. At times, some of the states were under French, Burgundian, Spanish, or German dominion, while others remained largely autonomous. In the Low Countries, more than one language was spoken. In the north, Dutch was the primary language, while in the south the primary language was French. We assume from your request that you prefer a name in Dutch. We find one example of in Holland between 1358-1361. [1] Also, the wife of Edward III of England, who was from Hainault, was known as or in French. [5] She lived from 1314 to 1369, and this lends evidence that a feminine form of was used in the area you are interested in. For the late 14th century, or would be a fine choice for a name. We don't have a later example of the or in the Low Countries, but we think it probably was used throughout your period. If you'd prefer a name that we know for certain to have been in use, you could choose one from these articles: "15th Century Dutch Names" http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch15.html "Dutch Names in Latin Contexts, 1542" http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/latin-dutch.html "Flemish Names from Bruges" http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/bruges/ One of the most common forms of surname for Dutch women was one indicating to whom she was married, e.g., . Virtually all examples we found of a woman identified by her spouse's name use the husband's full name for the purpose. Another common form of surname is the patronymic, which is a surname based on the father's given name, e.g., . Any of the masculine names listed in the above articles would be appropriate to create either type of surname. [1,2,3,4] We hope that this 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 Talan Gwynek, Juliana de Luna, Adelaide de Beaumont, Arval Benicoeur, Mari neyn Brian, Walraven van Nijmegen, Barak Raz, Julie Stampnitzky, Margaret Makafee, Hartmann Rogge, and Dietmar von Straubing. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 05Nov00 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Friedemann, Sara L., _Dutch Names 1358-1361_ (WWW: Self-published, 2000.) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/earlydutch14.html [2] Friedemann, Sara L., _15th Century Dutch Names_ (WWW: Self-published, 2000.) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch15.html [3] Friedemann, Sara L., _Dutch Names 1393-1396_ (WWW: Self-published, 2000.) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch14.html [4] Luana de Grood, "Flemish Given Names from Bruges, 1400-1600", (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996) http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/bruges/ [5] Froissart, Jean, _Chronicles_, tr. Kervyn de Lettenhove (WWW: Gallica - Bibliothe\que National de France), t.1, p.80-1. Accessed 27 Sep 2000. http://www.gallica.bnf.fr