ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2212 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2212 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 30 Jan 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if or would be an appropriate late 16th century Welsh feminine name. Here is the information we have found. was originally the name of a Greek mythological figure, but it was used in England from the 12th century on, spelled as 1379 and 1182-1211, 1275, 1283, 1302-03, with a pet form of 1273, 1279 [1]. The spelling is most likely Latinized, with being the spoken form for this period. We also found once in the 16th century as a rare name. [7] Rather strangely, we have found no evidence that or was used by any other cultures in period. We can attribute the resurgence of in England to increased interest in Homer's *Iliad*, in which the Greek prophetess plays a role. [2] While studies of 16th century Welsh feminine names show that many English feminine names had been adopted by the Welsh at this time, we did not find any evidence that was one of those names. However, some English names of classical origin were adopted into Welsh, e.g. , , , and [3], so it is not unreasonable to speculate that could have been used in Welsh, too. It would not be the best re-creation, but it is not impossible. The standardized Welsh form of is . This name was quite rare. In the cases where we can identify its gender, it was feminine. _Feminine_ Lewelihgt 1292 [4] Lewelyth c.1533, 16th c. [3,6] _Unknown gender_ Lewelit 1256 [5] thliwelit 1256 [5] You asked our opinion of using two styles of surname: and . The first of these names could be one of two types. It could be an inherited family surname, though such names were relatively rare in Wales in your period and very few were derived from women's given names. Alternatively, it could be a literal surname meaning "daughter of Lewelyth," with the word "daughter" removed from the name. Either or could have been used if was in fact your mother's given name. It was far more common for a woman to be identified as her father's daughter, but bynames based on the mother's name were not unheard of in late-period Welsh. [3] is a possible 16th century Welsh name; however, it would not be a likely one because it combines a given name not actually found in Welsh records with an unusual style of surname. If you'd like to consider alternatives, we recommend you read the following article: "Women's Names in the First Half of 16th Century Wales" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/welshWomen16/ We hope that this letter has been useful, and that you will not hestitate to write again if you have any further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Adelaide de Beaumont, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and Julie Stampnitzky. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 30Jan01 ------------- References: [1] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/reaney/. [2] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Cassandra [3] Jones, Heather Rose. "Women's Names in the First Half of 16th Century Wales" in Y Camamseriad 4 (1996). [4] Hopkins, Anthony. 1996. "The Lay Subsidy of 1292: Monmouth and the Three Castles" in Studia Celtica 30:189-196. [5] Roderick, A.J., & William Rees. 1950. "Ministers' Accounts for the Lordships of Abergavenny, Grosmont, Skenfrith and White Castle: PRO, Ministers' Accounts Bundle 1094, No. 11; Part I -- The Lordship of Abergavenny." In South Wales and Monmouth Record Society Publications: No. 2. [6] Lewis, E.A. An Inventory of the Early Chancery Proceedings Concerning Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1937. p.195 [7] Talan Gwynek, "Late Sixteenth Century English Given Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/eng16/].