ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2497 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2497 ************************************ 16 Aug 2002 From: SARA LIANA FRIEDEMANN Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for an 16th century Catalan man. (The slash represents an acute accent over the preceding character.) In addition, you observed that you had found a reference to the name in 13th century Aragon [1], and were interested in whether it was an appropriate name. This is the information we have found. Before we start, we would like to apologize for the time it's taken us to answer your question. There were several languages spoken on the Iberian Peninsula in your period: Portuguese was spoken in Portugal, Castilian throughout most of the rest of the Peninsula, Catalan in parts of Aragon (in the southeast of the Peninsula), and Basque in parts of Navarra (in the northeast of the Peninsula). Each language had its own naming patterns, and elements from various languages were rarely mixed. Therefore, The name mixes Catalan and Castilian elements; we recommend you choose a name that is either completely Catalan or completely Castilian. As you observe, the given name can be dated in Catalan to 1210. [2] It is also found in Barcelona in 1389, also in a Catalan context. [3] We have not found in the 16th century, but it is not implausible that it remained in use in Catalan. We found no evidence of any form of this name in Castilian, and we recommend you avoid it if you decide to choose a Castilian name. We were unable to locate the original source for the name that you found, so we are unable to say if this is an early citation of , or whether it is a modernized spelling of a medieval name that was originally spelled more like like . [1] Without that information, we cannot recommend the use of for a 13th century Aragonese man. is a Castilian given name, very common in the sixteenth century. [4] The Catalan equivalent is or ; it is found frequently in both the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. [5, 6] is not the most likely form for a sixteenth century Catalan or Castilian surname. The name can be found in Latin documents from Catalonia in the sixteenth century, but it probably represents vernacular , a spelling which is found in 1389 in Barcelona, both as a given name and a surname. [7, 3] The sixteenth century Castilian equivalent given name is ; this form occurs as a surname beginning in the 13th century. [4] is a fine late-period surname in Castilian, as we discussed in report 1491. [9] The Catalan form is , which is given as the surname of a man who was married in 1626. [8] (The sound \F\ in early Spanish dialects shifted to \H\ in late-period Castilian, but not in Catalan.) In both cases, the slash represents an accent on the preceding letter, which was used irregularly in period writing. However, as was originally either a descriptive byname "the falcon" or a patronymic byname "son of Falco/n", it would not be used with , which was used in Iberian names only before a place name. The surname was used simply or , with no preposition. We have found a handful of cases in late period Castilian of people who had two given names and two bynames, but they are all members of the high nobility. Similarly, we know a handful of cases in late period Catalan of higher nobility who had two given names or have multiple bynames. To summarize, we doubt that a name as complex as would be found in sixteenth century Catalonia, but it is not impossible. It would be pronounced \REE-cart JOH-an ben-AYT fal-CO\. The Castilian , pronounced \WAN ben-EE-to al-COHN\ is rather more likely. In either language, though, the most common style of name even as late as the sixteenth century was aa single given name and a single surname, such as Catalan or Castilian . 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 Maridonna Benvenuti, Arval Benicoeur, Falk vom Weserbogen, Elsbeth Anne Roth, Mari neyn Brian, Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Laurensa de Chambord. For the Academy, Juliana de Luna 16 August 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] J. Lee Shneidman, _The rise of the Aragonese-Catalan empire, 1200-1350_, New York, New York University Press, 1970, p. 194. "...and Ricardo Altamira received Tarrega for an annual rent of forty ounces of gold." We found the source that Shneidman cited for this passage in his note [35], Emili/ Morera y Claurado/, "Provincia de Tarragona," _Geografi/a General de Catalunya_ (6 vols., Barcelona, n.d.), IV: 750, but the page he referenced does not contain any reference to or . It appears that that the author made an error in the citation. [2] Manumission of Arnau, dated October 7, 1210, Vic, Arxiu Capitular, Liber Dotationum Antiquarum, folios 146v-147r http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/kansas/aarhms/arnau.htm [3] Marsa/, Francisco, et al. _Onoma/stica Barcelonesa del Siglo XIV_ (Barcelona: University of Barcelona, 1977), f. 13.a. [4] Elsbeth Anne Roth, _16th-century Spanish Men's Names_ (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1998) http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/spanish-m.html. [5] Marsa/, Francisco, et al. _Onoma/stica Barcelonesa del Siglo XIV_ (Barcelona: University of Barcelona, 1977). [6] Elliot, J. H. _The Revolt of the Catalans: A Study in the Decline of Spain, 1598-1640_, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1963, for example p 569. [7] Sala Family Archives Handlist: is found in a Latin context in 1500 (#199). to 1516 (#204) is notary in 1572. http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/professional/pubs/sala/handlist.html Information about the documents can be found at: http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/professional/pubs/sala/intro.html [8] Elliot, J. H. _The Revolt of the Catalans: A Study in the Decline of Spain, 1598-1640_, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1963, p. 36, footnote 2. [9] In 1999, you asked about : http://www.s-gabriel.org/1491