ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2296 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2296 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* From: "Sara L Friedemann" 22 Aug 2001 ****************************************** * * * See report 2443 for more information * * * ****************************************** Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for our help in creating an appropriate name for a Swedish woman living near the southern end of the Finnish border between 1500 and 1550. You said you were interested in a surname that meant something, rather than a family name. Here is the information we have found. First, let me apologize for the length of time it took in getting this report to you. Our sources for late-period Swedish feminine names are rather slim, and many members of the Academy have been quite busy these last few months, making research more difficult. Hopefully what we have found will still be of interest to you. We found the following feminine given names in document from 1583, from Norbotten, the northernmost Swedish province [1]. They are listed in order of frequency, with the most popular first: Marit, Mariet, Margreta Brita, Birit (forms of ) Ingebor, Ingeborg Gertrud Anna Elin Karin Marie Sigri, Sigrid Ingri (a form of ) Agnis Elsby, Elzeby (forms of ) Kirstin Klara Lussi (a form of ) Madle (a form of ) Sisela (a form of ) Other common feminine names from another source are: [2,4] Anna Birgitta, Birgittha, Bireta Christina, Cristin Elin, Elyn Kadrin, Katerina Lucia, Lucj, Lussi, Lusi, Lucij Margit, Marit, Margareta Any of these names would be appropriate for you. One of the most common types of surname for a 15th or 16th century Swedish woman is a patronymic byname, a byname that indicated who her father was. We have included a list of some of the more popular Swedish masculine names from your time period, any of which would be appropriate from which to create a patronym. [2] In this list <"> represents an umlaut over the previous letter, represent an with a slash through it, a <*> represents a ring above the previous letter, and <{ae}> represents an a-e ligature. Most common masculine names [2]: Anders, Anderss, Ander, Andhers Bio|rn, Bo|rn Erich, Erick, Erik Jon, Ion, Joan, Jo|ns, Jens, Hanss, Jons, Iens, Hans, Jenss Larens Mans, Mons Nielss, Nilis, Nielis, Niliss, Niels, Nielss, Nelss Olaff, Oleff, Ola*ff, Oluff, Olff P{ae}dher, Pedr, Pether, Peder, Pedher, Per Swen Other masculine names [2]: Amond Aruidh, Arwedh Benkth, Bencth Bottulf, Botolf, Bodel Christiern Clemen Daan Eskel Folka Gio"staff, Go"staff, Go"staff Gummonth Halffward Hindrick Ingwar Jogan, Joghen Knut Lasse Michel, Mikel, Mychyl, Miket, Mikkel Pawil, Pawal Staffan Tomas Tore In the 15th and 16th centuries, a feminine patronymic byname would be formed by adding <-dotter> or <-dotther> to the genitive (possessive) form of one of the names listed above. For example, we find in 1515 and ca. 1520. [2] Let us know if any of these masculine names appeal to you and we'll give you the correct genitive form. Additionally, a woman could be known as her husband's wife, by having her husband's name in the genitive case follow her given name, e.g., 1503, "Per Michaelsson's Birgitta," and 1508, "Sten's Birgitta." [2] This often, though not always, indicated that the woman was a widow. Again, any of the names listed above would be an appropriate choice for your husband's name. Another type of byname, less common but still appropriate, is a locative byname, which describes where a person is from. Locatives are often formed most often by using the preposition or , pronounced \ee\ and meaning "in," before either the place the person is from. This could be either the name of a town or village, or a generic topographical element. [2] For example, we find "Birgitta in Barckarlaby" in 1513 and "Elin in the corner" in 1508. [2] You mentioned that you were interested in being from the Finnish border; two Finnish town names that we found recorded in Swedish are and . [3] These would both be appropriate places to be from; we find in 1526 and in 1535. [2] We are not sure if these refer to the Finnish place names, but we would not be surprised if they did. The meaning of the preposition or can be "at" or "on," depending on the context. Here, it is used more like "of." We also found a couple of descriptive bynames (nicknames describing personal characteristics of the bearer). This type of byname is pretty rare, and we do not recommend these as strongly as any of the above-mentioned types. Examples that we found are: [2] Danske 1505 'Danish' Rysse, Ryssza 1508, 1512 'Russian' Skarp 1509 'sharp or clever' legekone 1511 'leechwoman' stora 1512 'big' Ro|de 1518 'red' Adjectival bynames such as and can either precede or follow the given name. Once you have found some elements that you are interested in, please write us back and we will be happy to give you pronunciations. 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 were provided by Lindorm Eriksson, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Barak Raz, Ursula Georges, Dietmar von Straubing, Hartmann Rogge, Julie Stampnitzky, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Lindorm Eriksson. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 22Aug01 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Fredriksson, Ingwar, _Svenskt Dopnamnsskick vid 1500-Talets Slut_, (Vanersborg: Vanersborgs Boktryckeri AB, 1974) [2] --, _Sveriges Medeltida Personnamn_, Vol. 1- (Uppsala: 1967-. bd. 1, h. 3: isbn: 91-7192-123-8; bd. 1, h. 4: isbn: 91-7192-223-7; bd. 1, h. 5: isbn: 91-7402-044-7; bd. 2, h. 6: isbn: 91-7402-104-4; bd. 2, h. 7: isbn: 91-7402-136-2, h. 8: isbn: 91-7402-115-x; bd. 2, h. 9: isbn: 91-88096-00-9; bd. 2, h. 10: isbn: 91-88096-01-7; Bloms Boktryckeri AB: Lund 1983 bd. 2). , s.nn. Anna, Benediktsson, Birgitta, Bothild, Elena, Elisabeth, Erik, Folke, Gunar, Hakon [3] 'Svenska Ortnamn i Finland', 4th ed., Kurt Zilliacus & Ulla A*dahl-Sundgren, eds., Forskningscentralen fo"r de Inhemska Spra*ken, Skrifter 2, Helsingfors, 1984 [4] These names were found by scanning popular masculine names in source [2] for 16th-century examples of women's names used to illustrate patronymic bynames formed from the masculine names. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 22 Aug 2003, Arval: Corrected the references for the lists of names. Correction, 29 Jun 2010, Aryanhwy: Corrected the form to , and added a note about <{ae}>.