ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2138 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2138 ************************************ 25 Oct 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a woman from late 15th or 16th century Spain, and what might be an appropriate surname. Here is what we have found. The given name is a fine choice. We have found examples of the name in late 15th century records spelled and in 16th century records spelled [1, 2]. In this period, the name would have been pronounced \o-LAH-ly@\. The \ly\ is really one sound, a palatalized 'l'. It's the sound of in the French word . In your period, most Spaniards inherited their surnames, much as we do today. We have a list of surnames from late 15th century Spanis records on the web: Spanish Names from the Late 15th Century http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/isabella/ The most common styles of surname were ones that had originally been patronymic (i.e. based on some ancestor's father's given name, like ) or locative (i.e. based on the place where some ancestor lived, like ). If you don't find a name that appeals to you in the list on the web, we can help you construct one based on one of these two models. 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 Pedro de Alcazar, Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, Talan Gwynek, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 25 Oct 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Juliana de Luna, "Spanish Names from the Late 15th Century" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999-2000). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/juliana/isabella/ [2] Elsbeth Anne Roth, _16th-century Spanish Women's Names_ (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1998). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/spanish.html