ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2583
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2583
************************************

29 Nov 2002
From: Ursula Whitcher 


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Ademar Etienne d'Angouleme> is an appropriate name for a 
man born around 1480 in Angouleme, France.  Here is what we have found.

You've asked about a fairly complex name; we'll start with some background, 
then consider each element separately, and finally discuss ways the 
elements might have been combined.

In your period, France was not unified politically, culturally, or 
linguistically.  One of the most significant linguistic divisions was 
between the langue d'oil or French, spoken in the north, and the langue 
d'oc, also called Occitan or Provencal, spoken in the south.  These were 
different languages, not just dialects of the same language, and names in 
them were quite different.  Since you asked about a French name, we'll 
concentrate on that language.

We found the name <Ademar> in French-speaking regions in the eleventh and 
twelfth centuries. [1, 2]  We also found Occitan versions of this name in 
the fourteenth century. [3, 4]  However, we were not able to find <Ademar> 
used as a French given name as late as 1480; though it is possible that the 
name was still used, we cannot recommend it as the best recreation.  We can 
offer an alternative: in the spelling <Adhe/mar> the name is a common 
surname in France today, and we believe that <Ademar> or <Adhemar> is an 
appropriate surname for your period as well. [9]  (The slash in <Adhe/mar> 
represents an acute accent on the preceding letter.)  We believe that 
<Ademar> would have been pronounced \ah-day-mar\, where the 'r' is rolled 
or trilled, as in modern Italian.

<Etienne> is a modern spelling of the name <Estienne>.  We found several 
people named <Estienne> in fifteenth-century Bordeaux; it is a fine name 
for a man of your period from Angouleme.  We believe this name was 
pronounced \ay-TYEN-n@\ or \ay-TYEN\.  Here \ay\ rhymes with "May", 'Y' is 
a consonant, and \@\ represents the sound of the letter 'a' in <about> and 
<soda>. [5]

<Angoule^me> is a city; the surrounding region is called 
<l'Angoumois>.  (Here we've used the '^' to represent a circumflex over the 
letter 'e'.)  We found the spellings <Engolesme> (for the town) and 
<l'Engolmes> (for the region) somewhat before your period. [11, 12]  We 
believe that by the late fifteenth century the city name was spelled 
<Angoulesme>, while the region was known by the modern <l'Angoumois>. 
[10]  A fifteenth-century man named <Estienne> from the city of Angouleme 
could have been known as <Estienne d'Angoulesme>, "Estienne from 
Angouleme".  If he was from the surrounding region, he might have been 
identified as <Estienne l'Angoumois>, "Estienne the 
Angoumoisian."  (Bynames based on regions were usually adjectives; 
<Estienne l'Angoumois> is analogous to the English phrase "John the 
Texan.")  A man from the city might have been known as <Estienne 
l'Angoumois> as well, though this was less common. [6]  Of course, by your 
period many bynames were inherited, so a man named <Estienne d'Angoulesme> 
or <Estienne l'Angoumois> might not have been from Angoule^me or the 
surrounding region at all.  We believe that <d'Angoulesme> was pronounced 
as \daw~-goo-lem\ or \daw~-goo-leh-m@\ in your period.  (Here \aw~\ 
represents a nasalized vowel similar to the 'a' in 'ball'.  The same vowel 
is used in the modern French pronunciation of <Angoule^me>.)

Double given names were rare or unheard-of in fifteenth-century France; 
they did not become popular until well after our period. [7]  If you would 
still like to use the name <Estienne> as a second name, we recommend that 
you treat it as an inherited surname.  For example, <Adrian Estienne> might 
have been the son of <Anthoine Estienne>.  In your period, <Estienne> might 
also have appeared as a literal byname identifying the bearer's father; for 
example, <Adrian Estienne> could have been the son of <Estienne Bernard>.

We found several examples in your period of people using two bynames.  In 
this case, the first byname was probably inherited, while the second byname 
literally identified the bearer's origin.  Following this pattern, a name 
like <Adrian Estienne d'Angoulesme>, "Adrian Estienne from Angouleme", or 
<Estienne Ademar d'Angoulesme>, "Estienne Ademar from Angouleme", is not 
impossible.  However, a simpler name such as <Adrian Estienne>, <Estienne 
Ademar>, or <Estienne d'Angoulesme> is much more typical of your 
culture.  In these simpler names, the byname would probably have been 
inherited, much like a modern surname. [8]

I hope this letter has been useful.  Please write to us again if any part 
of it has been unclear or if you have other questions.  In particular, 
please write to us if you're interested in a name appropriate for the 
period when <Ademar> was in use as a given name.  I was assisted in 
researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Julie Stampnitzky, 
Arval Benicoeur, Galiana de Baiona, Adelaide de Beaumont, Juliana de Luna, 
and Aryanhwy merch Catmael.

For the Academy,

Ursula Georges
29 Nov. 2002.

References:

[1] Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 2575.  (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 
2002) http://www.s-gabriel.org/2575

[2]  L. Perouas, B. Barrie\re, J. Boutier, J.-C. Peyronnet, & J. Tricard, 
_Le/onard, Marie, Jean et les Autres: Les Pre/noms en Limousin depuis un 
Mille/naire (Paris: E/ditions du Centre National de la Recherche 
Scientifique, 1984), p.37.  <Ademar> was reasonably common in Limoges in 
the 11th and 12th centuries.

[3]  Cateline de la Mor, "Names from Fourteenth Century Foix" (SCA: 
Trimarian Known World Heraldic Symposium, AS XXIX; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) 
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/cateline/foix.html.  <Adhe/mar> is a modern 
French form. For the Provencal form, the article offers <Asemar>.

[4]  Arval Benicoeur, "Languedoc Names circa 1300" (WWW: privately 
published, 1998) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/toulouse/.

[5]  Sara L. Friedemann and Brian Scott, "Names Found in Commercial 
Documents from Bordeaux, 1470-1520" (WWW: privately published, 2000) 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/bordeaux.html.

[6]  Albert Dauzat, _Les Noms de Famille de France_ (Paris: Librairie 
Guenegaud, 1988) pp. 158-9.

[7]  Perouas et. al. p. 120ff.  In the Limousin, quite close to the 
Angoumois, double given names were an innovation in the early 17th century.

[8]  Friedemann and Scott.  The data contains many examples of these name 
styles, e.g. <Arnald Debracau de Saint-Maixent>, <Arnaud Geuilhem Deveuze>, 
<Jehan Ambroze de Franguis>, and <Jehan Baudric de Sainte-Eulalie>.

[9]  Dauzat, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de 
France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987) s.n. <Adhe/mar>.

[10]  c.f. M.K. Pope, _From Latin to Modern French_ (Manchester: Manchester 
University Press, 1966), section 669.

[11] Louis-Fernand Flutre, _Table des noms propres avec toutes leurs 
variantes, figurant dans les romans du Moyen Age e/crits en franc,ais ou en 
provenc,al et actuellement publie/s ou analyse/s_ (Poitiers: Centre 
d'e/tudes supe/rieures de civilisation me/die/vale, 1962), p.233.

[12] Frank M. Chambers, _Proper Names in the Lyrics of the Troubadours_ 
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1971), p.116.