ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2457 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2457 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 6 Mar 2002 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if would be an appropriate name for an Englishman born around 1335. Here is the information we have found. With a few adjustments for spelling, the name you picked is excellent. We find as a vernacular (spoken) form of the name as early as 1281, and it continued in use through the 16th century, also spelled . [1,7] It was pronounced \DJIH-l@s\, where the \IH\ is the sound between the vowel in and the one in , and \@\ is the sound of in or . The modern pronunciations that rhyme with didn't develop until long after our period. We first find the spelling in 1642; this is a couple hundred years too late for your period. [3] Spellings that are appropriate for your time include: [2,3,4,5,6] Burlay 1249 Burleye 1251 Burley 1273, ca. 1380, 1388 Borle 1292 Burghlay ca.1300, ca.1332 Burle 1332 Burley, Berley 1346 Burlaye ca.1380 Burlayes ca.1380 Burleye ca.1380 Berlay 1383 Berely ca.1435 As you can see, a number of choices are appropriate for your period. All of these different forms could have been used to form a locative surname (a surname that indicated where the bearer was from). For example, a man named from Burleye might be known as in writing, or in speech. By the end of your desired period, surnames such as this were becoming inherited. In this case, a man might be known as because his father had the surname , not because Giles himself was from Burleye. These different forms represent a variety of different pronunciations. If any specific spelling interests you, please write us again and we'll be happy to tell you how it was pronounced. Here are a few rough guidelines for all of them: Spellings beginning in or were pronounced \BUR-\, where \U\ is the vowel of . The spellings were pronounced more like \BAIR-\ or \BEHR-\. The endings <-ay> and <-ey> should be pronounced somewhere between the sounds of the vowels in and . We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian, Juliana la Caminante de Navarra, Eoin Caimbeul, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Will Dekne. For the Academy, ~Argantgui filia Catmaili, 6Mar02 -- References: [1] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980). s.nn. Argent, Burleigh [2] Ekwall, Eilert, _The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place- names_, 4th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991). s.n. Burley Hill [3] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995). s.n. Burleigh [4] Woodcock, Thomas, Janet Grant, & Ian Graham, _Dictionary of British Arms_, vol II. (The Society of Antiquaries of London, 1996). p. 358 [5] Chesshyre, Hubert & Woodcock, Thomas, _Dictionary of British Arms: Medieval Ordinary_, vol. I (London: The Society of Antiquaries of London, 1992). p.101 [6] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "An Index to the 1332 Lay Subsidy Rolls for Lincolnshire, England" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 2000) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/LincLSR/. [7] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Giles