ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2509 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2509 ************************************ 27 Mar 2002 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for an Anglo-Norman woman in the second half of the 13th century. , with one , was a moderately common name in 12th and 13th century England [1, 2, 3, 4]. The final <-a> is a Latinization, probably used only in writing. In the spoken language, the name was probably . The double 'n' is not a likely variant spelling in Anglo-Norman French in this period and we've found no example of it; so we recommend you use the recorded spelling. Your surname is also a fine choice, though the particular spelling you've chosen probably is not appropriate. We found 1273, c.1240 [5, 6]. The word "mountain" was spelled in English in the 14th, 15th, and 16th century, and as in the 15th; so those spellings are also plausible, though they were certainly unusual [7]. However, we found no evidence to support without the final . In summary, is a fine 13th century written form of a name that would likely have been in speech. That name was pronounced \DJUL-y@n deh moon-TEN-y@\, where \@\ stands for the sound of the in and [8]. The given name was also pronounced \DJIL-y@n\ [9]. 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 Maridonna Benvenuti, Adelaide de Beaumont, Mari neyn Brian, Talan Gwynek, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 27 Mar 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] Nicolaa de Bracton, "A Statistical Survey of Given Names in Essex Co., England, 1182-1272", Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings 1995 (SCA Inc.; WWW: privately published, 1997). http://members.tripod.com/nicolaa5/articles/names.html [3] Talan Gwynek, "Given Names from Early 13th Century England" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/eng13/ [4] Postles, David A., "Rutland Lay Subsidy 1296" (WWW: Self-published, January 1998). Examples include "Juliana on the hill" and "Juliana [the] widow". http://www.le.ac.uk/elh/pot/ruthome.html [5] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980), s.n. Mountain. [6] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Mountain. [7] _The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary_ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), s.v. mountain. [8] Pope, M.K., _From Latin to Modern French_ (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1966), p.450. [9] Reaney and Wilson, s.n. Gillian.