ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2490 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2490 ************************************ 19 Feb 2002 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a 13th century Englishwoman. This letter is a brief answer to your question. As you already know, we have found one instance of as a woman's name in Suffolk, England in 1275. We're not quite sure of its origin. It was pronounced \LAY-n@\, where \@\ stands for the sound of the in or . If you prefer a name pronounced \LEE-n@\, then you could use , recorded in 1181, 1195, 1202, and probably a short form of some name like , , etc. [1] The modern surname derives from a place names in England. We find the surname recorded as [2, 3]: Harelea, 1166 Henry de Herley, 1273 Clemens de Herleghe, 1273 Hareleye, c.1280 Adam de Herleg, 13th century Harley, 1379 Herlay, 1379 One of the places by this name is in Shropshire; it is recorded as 1229, 1242. Two others are in the Yorkshire West Riding and were recorded as 1297 and in 1379 [4]. The variation in spelling indicates a variation in pronunciation, too: The spellings that begin were pronounced \HAR-lay\. The ones that also have a final <-e> were \HAR-lay-@\. If you decide to use , then we recommend you choose one of the late 13th century spellings of the place name. In your period, a surname based on a place name generally included the preposition , so a name like or is an excellent choice. One like is also fine. We hope this brief 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 Adelaide de Beaumont, Maridonna Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Ursula Georges, Elsbeth Anne Roth, and Julie Stampnitzky. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 19 Feb 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/reaney/ [2] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Harley. [3] Bardsley, Charles Wareing, _Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature_ (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1970), s.n. Harley. [4] Ekwall, Eilert, _The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names_, 4th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), s.n. Harley.