ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2445 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2445 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* From: "Sara L Friedemann" 6 Jan 2002 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if would be an appropriate name for a German woman living between 1300 and 1600. Here is the information we have found. Unfortunately, neither given name in the form that you've chosen is appropriate for Germany. appears to be a modern form of , which is a Spanish diminutive of . [1] We have not found any evidence that either or were used in Germany any time before 1600. Forms of , however, were in use: we found, in Silesia, in 1383, in 1372 and 1383, and the diminutive form in 1358. [5] is a French diminutive form of . This diminutive is found in German and Latin records as . is found in German royal lines from a fairly early date: it was the name of the wife of Otto of Savoy in 1086, and the wife of King Ottokar of Bohemia, in the 13th c. We also found mention of a in the 12th century. [2] (The " represents an umlaut over the previous letter.) We also found one example of the name, spelled in Denmark in 1231; here the {ae} is the a-e ligature, where the two letters share the same middle stroke. [3] Evidence for the use of is not very strong, but based on these examples, it is a reasonable choice for a German woman living in the west of Germany, near the French border. The use of double given names came into general use in Germany sometime after the 14th century, though we have found a handful of examples from the 13th century. [4] Such names, especially earlier on, generally used very common names. If you would like to use a double given name, we recommend that you consider using at least one common name; would be a fine choice. appears to be a variant dialectal spelling of , though we do not know when it came into use. is a place in Thuringia, and we have examples of it being used as a surname in your period, in 1493. [6] (The {sz} is the s-z ligature, which looks like a lower case Greek letter 'beta.') In conclusion, would be a fine name for a German woman living in Thuringia in the 14th or 15th century. We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Argantgui filia Catmaili, 06Jan02 -- References: [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Anita [2] Bahlow, Hans, _Unsere Vornamen im Wandel der Jahrhunderte_, Vol. 4 in the series _Grundriss der Genealogie_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn: C. A. Starke Verlag, 1965), s.n. Adele [3] Knudsen Gunnar, Marius Kristiansen, & Rikard Hornby, _Danmarks Gamle Personnavne_, Vol. I: Fornavne (Copenhagen: 1936-48). s.n. Athela [4] Socin, Adolf, _Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch. Nach oberrheinischen Quellen des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts_ (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1903; Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966). ch.IV [5] Talan Gwynek, "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia", revised edition (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/bahlow/ [6] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960). s.n. Greu{sz}en - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 10 May 2002, Arval: Corrected the reference in note [2].