ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2450 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2450 ************************************ 22 Jan 2002 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a 14th century Englishwoman. Here is what we've found. As you know, was recorded in Yorkshire in 1379 [1]. It's a unique example, so we can't recommend it as the best re-creation. It may have been a local form of , which is pronounced and sometimes written as . Alternatively, it might have been a scribal error for either or . It probably was not a form of , which was rare in England until later in period [2, 3]. The surname is a fine choice. We found Yorkshire examples 1219 and 1284-5 (in a 15th century copy of the original) [4, 5]. The apostrophe represents a scribal abbreviation whose exact meaning cannot be determined with certainty; in this case, however, it probably stands for . Other examples were recorded further north in the Scottish Lowlands [6]. In the north, this name probably had nothing to do with bards, but instead derived from one of the Norse masculine given names or [4]. (The slash represents an acute accent mark over the preceding letter and {dh} stands for the Norse letter edh.) There was a contemporary surname that literally meant "the bard": 1364. However, he was a Scottish merchant, not a bard [7]. would have been pronounced \AHN-y@ BARD\, where \@\ represents the sound of the in or [8]. You had also wondered whether might have been used as the English equivalent of your Gaelic name, . Unfortunately, we don't have enough data on how Gaelic names were adapted into English in your period, so we can't answer that question. is not related to in any way, so if the two names were associated, it would only have been due to similarity of pronunciation. That's not an unlikely basis for equating names in two languages, but that's the most we can say. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Adelaide de Beaumont, Mari neyn Brian, and Julie Stampnitzky. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 22 Jan 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Talan Gwynek, "Yorkshire Given Names from 1379" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/yorkshire/ [2] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Amy. She has , also in Yorkshire 1379. [3] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997), s.nn. Agnes, Amy, Ann. http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/reaney/ [4] Fellows Jensen, Gillian, _Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire_ (Copenhagen: 1968), s.n. Ba/r{dh}r. [5] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Bard. [6] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Baird. Examples from your period include 1315 and 1320; 1332; 1389 who is also 1399. [7] Black, s.n. Bard. [8] In the 13th century, the final in would have been pronounced; but it became silent over the course of the 14th century, and earliest in the Northern dialect.