ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2382 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2382 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 11 Nov 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if would be an appropriate name for a Spanish noblewoman living in Castille between 1550 and 1600. Here is the information we have found. appears to be a modern form of the name . (The slash represents an accent over the previous letter.) We have not found before 1600. However, was quite a popular name in your period: In one study of 16th century Spanish feminine names, was the 6th most common name. [1] Other spellings found in your period are , , and . [4] Any would be appropriate, and they were all pronounced roughly \ee-NES\. We have not found any feminine form of used in the Iberian peninsula before 1600. We recommend that you do not use this name. Additionally, the widespread use of middle names in Spanish is an 18th century phenomenon. In period, only a small percentage of the highest nobility had a middle name, and so we would like to advise you against using a second given name. [2] There is another way that you could include the element in your name, if you wish. Many inherited family names in Spanish derived originally from given names, and we have found examples of used as an inherited surname in the 16th century. [3] is a French form of the kingdom known as in Spanish. While locative bynames (bynames indicating where the bearer is from) derived from kingdom names were often used by the people who ruled that certain area (e.g., Catherine of Aragon), almost all the examples we found in the 16th century were no longer literal bynames; they were inherited surnames with no particular meaning. A late-period woman named Ine/s, daughter of Isabel Gabriel de Castilla, could have been known as . She might also have inherited her surname from her father. The full name would have been pronounced \ee-NES gah-bree-ELL day kah-STEE-l~ah\, where \l~\ is a palatalized , the sound of in the French word 'million' and of in Italian 'of the.' This sound does not occur in native English words. (Many Americans will find this sound similar to \ly\; however, it is a single sound that cannot be split between two syllables.) 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 Pedro de Alcazar, Elsbeth Anne Roth, Juliana la Caminante de Navarra, Juliana de Luna, Arval Benicoeur, Adelaide de Beaumont, Catriona inghean Ui Bhraonain, Julie Stampnitzky, Ursula Georges, Blaise de Cormeilles, Talan Gwynek, and Barak Raz. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 11Nov01 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Elsbeth Anne Roth, _16th-century Spanish Women's Names_ (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1998) http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/spanish.html [2] In one study of the titled nobility in the 16th century, less than 3% of the people had double given names. In most lists of names, less than 1% of people have double given names (Juliana de Luna, publication pending). [3] Bermu/dez Plata, Don Crist/obal, _Catalogo de Pasajeros a Indias, Siglos XVI, XVII, y XVIII_ (Sevilla: Imprenta de la Gavidia, 1946). v. 2 & 3, 1539-1559, p. 318 [4] Juliana de Luna, "Spanish Names from the Late 15th Century" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999-2000) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/isabella/