ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2231 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2231 ************************************ 6 Feb 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether any form of the surname was used in our period. This letter is a brief answer to your question. The modern surname derives from a word in Middle English or Scots that meant "fuller", i.e. someone who worked on woven woolen cloth to compact the weave. (Scots was a language closely related to Middle English that was spoken in the Lowlands of Scotland from the mid-14th century onward.) We aren't sure if you are interested only in the specific surname , or in a surname that means "someone who walks, traveller". We'll discuss the first possibility in this letter; if you'd like the other alternatives, write us again. There were three standard Middle English terms for this type of cloth worker: , , and . Usage of these terms was not uniformly distributed geographically. was most common in the western and northern parts of England and in the Scottish Lowlands [1]. Early English examples include: Richard le Walkere c.1248 [2] Robert le Walker 1260 [2] Rob. Walkere 1266 [3] Geoffret le Walkare 1273 [8] Elena Walker 1297 [3] Will. Le Walker 1307 [3] Ric. Le Walkere 1327 [3] Joh. le Walkar 1332 [3] Simon Walker 1332 [4] Willelmus Walkere 1379 [8] Johanna Walkar 1379 [8] An interesting variant is 1379 in Yorkshire, borne by a man who was himself a fuller [8]. By the late 14th century, most English families had inherited surnames, just as we do today. The family name continued in use in England through the end of our period [5, 6]; but some examples of the literal occupational byname can be found in Wales as late as the 16th century [7]. In Scotland, the name was used similarly, though in different spellings [9]: William Walkere 1361 Johannes Walker 1393 Donald Walcare 1457 Walcare 1486 Walcer 1493 Walcar 1511 Walcer 1522 Valcar 1526 Johannes Walcar 1546 Waulcar 1555 Alexander Walker ca.1560 Valker 1583 Walcair 1590 was occasionally used by period scribes to record the \w\ sound. In an earlier letter, you asked about a name in which you called yourself "daughter of Walker". If that still interests you, you might consider a name like , which would be very appropriate for late 14th century Yorkshire [10]. We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Adelaide de Beaumont, Juliana de Luna, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 6 Feb 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Fuller. [2] Reaney & Wilson, s.n. Walker. [3] Fransson, Gustav, _Middle English Surnames of Occupation, 1100-1350_ (Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup, 1935), p.101. [4] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "An Index to the 1332 Lay Subsidy Rolls for Lincolnshire, England" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 2000). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/mari/LincLSR/ [5] Julian Goodwyn, "Brass Enscription Index" (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997). She has an example of from 1584. http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/brasses/ [6] Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Names found in the Berkeley Hundred Court Rolls" (WWW: privately published, 2000). , 1543. http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/berkeley100.html [7] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "Women's Names in the First Half of 16th Century Wales" (WWW: J. Mittleman 1998). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/tangwystyl/welshWomen16/ [8] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980), s.n. Walker. [9] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Walker. [10] Reaney & Wilson, p.li, has several examples of bynames constructed from the father's occupational byname in this manner. Also s.n. Daughters it has 1379. Bardsley, s.n. Taylorson, has 1379.