ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2390 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2390 ************************************ From: Lisa and Ken Theriot 8 Nov 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a 9th century Slav living near Novgorod. Here is the information we have found. The given name is found in various forms from approximately the 9th century on [1]. Unfortunately, it was rarely used outside the Rurikid dynasty (Russian princes), especially as early as the 9th century. It may have originally been a kind of nickname given to princes; it derives from the Russian phrase 'to rule the world'. For example, Vladimir I, Grand Prince of Kiev (died 1015), who was canonized and became Saint Vladimir, was baptized as and only known as later in life. After the death of Saint Vladimir, the name became more popular, especially after it was adopted into the Christian calendar in the 13th century [2]. While we cannot say that it is impossible that a 9th century man from Novgorod would have been named , we believe it is very unlikely, and accordingly we cannot recommend it as a good recreation. Happily, there is an excellent source for names from Novgorod available on the web: Russian Personal Names: Name Frequency in the Novgorod Birch-Bark Letters http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/predslava/bbl/ Although the oldest data in this article is from the 11th century, we believe that these names would be appropriate for you, especially the names marked as "Old Russian" in origin. We believe based on our sources that a 9th century Novgorod man might not have used a byname at all. If he had a byname, he would have had a patronymic, a name that identified him as his father's son. If you would like to use such a name, the article referenced above also shows patronymic forms of the most common men's names from Novgorod. For example, a man named , whose father was named , might have been known as . In general, descriptive bynames were not used in Russian until well after your period. Even extending our search beyond 1600, we have not found a name similar to in any of our sources, nor have we found a Russian name which means 'red-bearded'. We have found many forms of the names and , meaning 'bearded', but not earlier than the 14th century [1, 3]. We find the descriptive byname 'red-haired' recorded earlier; the form was recorded in Novgorod in 1268 [1]. If you would like to consider a name from a later period, we believe that is an excellent name for a man living in Novgorod in the 13th century. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Paul Wickenden of Thanet, Predslava Vydrina, Talan Gwynek, and Will Dekne. For the Academy, Adelaide de Beaumont 8 November 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References: [1] Paul Wickenden of Thanet, "A Dictionary of Period Russian Names", 3rd edition (Normal, Illinois: SCA, Free Trumpet Press West, 2000), s.nn. Vladimir, Boroda, Borodatoi, Chermnoi, Voislav, Shchuka. [2] Predslava Vydrina, "Russian Personal Names: Name Frequency in the Novgorod Birch-Bark Letters" in Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings 1997 (SCA: Rochester, NY, 1997; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1998). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/predslava/bbl/ [3] Unbegaun, B. O., _Russian Surnames_ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 317, 185.