ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2577 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2577 ************************************ 6 Oct 2002 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked our help consructing a name appropriate for a 16th century Swedish woman named with as a byname preceding your given name and another byname identifying you as the wife of . This letter is a brief answer to your question. was a common name in 16th century Sweden. Adjectival bynames in women's names were rare in your culture, but they were not unknown: The byname "Russian" was used for a woman in 1508. It could be placed either before or after your given name, so is a fine choice, if somewhat unusual [1]. It was not unusual for a woman in late-period Sweden to be identified as her husband's wife, usually by using the genitive (possessive) form of her husband's given name or his full name, e.g. 1503 "Per Michelsson's Birgitta", and 1508 "Sten's Birgitta [1]. This often, though not always, indicated that the woman was a widow. Using your husband's name, you could be called or [2]. We are not sure whether a woman in your culture would ever have been identified using both bynames, i.e. . We can't rule it out, but it would certainly have been an unusual form and we can't recommend it as the best re-creation. However, it would be perfectly appropriate to use one byname or the other depending on the circumstances. We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Talan Gwynek, and Lindorm Eriksson. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 6 Oct 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] _Sveriges Medeltida Personnamn_, Vol. 1- (Uppsala: 1967-. bd. 1, h. 3: isbn: 91-7192-123-8; bd. 1, h. 4: isbn: 91-7192-223-7; bd. 1, h. 5: isbn: 91-7402-044-7; bd. 2, h. 6: isbn: 91-7402-104-4; bd. 2, h. 7: isbn: 91-7402-136-2, h. 8: isbn: 91-7402-115-x; bd. 2, h. 9: isbn: 91-88096-00-9; bd. 2, h. 10: isbn: 91-88096-01-7; Bloms Boktryckeri AB: Lund 1983 bd. 2). , s.nn. Anna, Benedikt, Birgitta, Bothild, Elena, Elisabeth, Erik, Folke, Gunar, Hakon [2] _Sveriges Medeltida Personnamn_ s.n. Antonius. There are examples of used as a genitive form, e.g. 1512.