ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2296
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2296
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* NOTE: Later research turned up additional *
* information relevant to this report. *
* See the end of the letter for details. *
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From: "Sara L Friedemann"
22 Aug 2001
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* See report 2443 for more information *
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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 <Birgitta>)
Ingebor, Ingeborg
Gertrud
Anna
Elin
Karin
Marie
Sigri, Sigrid
Ingri (a form of <Ingrid>)
Agnis
Elsby, Elzeby (forms of <Elizabeth>)
Kirstin
Klara
Lussi (a form of <Lucia>)
Madle (a form of <Magdalene>)
Sisela (a form of <Cecilia>)
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, <o|> represent an <o> 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 <Birgitta Petherssdotther>
in 1515 and <Birgitta Laurinssa dotter> 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., <Birgitta
Per Michelssons> 1503, "Per Michaelsson's Birgitta," and <Birgitta Stens>
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 <i> or <j>, 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 i Barckarlaby> "Birgitta in Barckarlaby" in 1513
and <Elin i ho|rnit> "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 <Aspna"s> and <A*do"n>. [3] These
would both be appropriate places to be from; we find <Anna pa Aspana"a"s> in
1526 and <Anna pa* A*do"n> 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 <pa> or <pa*> 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 <stora> and <Rysse> 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
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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.
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Correction, 22 Aug 2003, Arval: Corrected the references for the lists
of names.
Correction, 29 Jun 2010, Aryanhwy: Corrected the form <Paedher> to
<P{ae}dher>, and added a note about <{ae}>.