ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2502
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2502
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From: Lisa and Ken Theriot 
28 Mar 2002


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You wanted to known if <Amelot d'Akeyne> or <Amelot d'Aykeyne> is an 
appropriate name for a 13th century English woman whose family came to 
England during the Norman Conquest.  Here is the information we have found.

As you discovered, <Amelot> is a fine name for a 13th century English woman 
[1].  We also find it recorded in 13th century France, so it especially 
appropriate for a woman from a Norman family [2].  In 13th century England, 
we believe it was pronounced \AH-m@-loht\, where \@\ represents the sound 
of <a> in <soda> and <about>, and \oh\ represents the sound of <o> in 
<more>.

In your own research, you found that the family name <d'Akeyne> or 
<d'Aykeyne> originally refered to a town in France.  There is a modern town 
called <Acquigny> in Normandy; it had a similar name in the 9th century 
[3].  We found several instances of English bynames that appear to be based 
on this placename [4, 5, 6]:

  Dakeny, 1241-1269, 1286, 1367
  Dakigny, c. 1270
  Dakeni, 1285
  de Akeney, 1295

Any of these forms fits your period.  Normal French practice is to contract 
the preposition <de> to <d'> before words beginning with a vowel, as in 
<d'Acquigny> 'of Acquigny'.  English documentary practice in your period 
was different.  If the place-name began with a vowel, the preposition was 
sometimes contracted to <d> and fused to the place-name without any 
apostrophe, as in <Dakeny>.  More often, however, it was left as an 
independent word, as in <de Akeney>.


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 Angharat ver' Reynulf, Arval 
Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Julie Stampnitzky and Talan Gwynek.


For the Academy,


Adelaide de Beaumont
28 March 2001

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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] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of 
Paris", Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium 1996 (SCA: 
Montgomery, Alabama; WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997). 
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html

[3] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de
Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963), s.n. Acquigny.  The
town was recorded as <Acciniacus> in 876.

[4] Brault, Gerald J., _The Rolls of Arms of Edward I_, Aspilogia III, 
2 vols. (London: Boydell Press, 1997), vol. II, s.n. Dakeny.

[5] Wagner, Anthony Richard, ed. Aspilogia II: Rolls of Arms: Henry III 
(London: The Society of Antiquaries, 1967), p. 124.

[6] Our data indicates that at some point, the name <Dakeny> seems to have
become confused with <Daykin> or <Dakin>, which is a form of <David>.  For
example, we find a man recorded in a Latin document in 1275 as <Daykenus
judaeus> [7]; if he had a son named <John> his son could have been recorded
in Latin as <Iohannes Daykeni>, 'John, (son) of Dayken'.  Accordingly, we
can't be sure whether all our examples represent names based on the
placename <Acquigny> or on the given name <Daykin>, though the form <de
Akeney> is clearly based on a placename.

[7] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_
(London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Daykin.