ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2590 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2590 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 16 Dec 2002 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a German woman born around 1520. Here is what we have found. We have found a reasonable number of examples of this name, in various spellings, in the 14th century. The internal <-n-> seems to have dropped out of use earlier than your period. It appears as 1310 and 1363 in Silesia in eastern Germany, as in Bremen 1310, in the 14th century, and in a man's surname 1362 near Nidda. A pet form of the name, , is recorded in 1346 and 1371 [1, 2, 6]. The same pet form was apparently in use in 1412, when we find a man named whose surname probably means "Yrmel's son". However, this could as easily derive from the more-common as from [3]. We haven't found any evidence that remained in use into the 16th century, though it is reasonable to believe that it was still used occasionally in the early 15th century. The short form itself remained in use: It appears as in 15th century Arnsburg [4]; as and in southeastern Germany in 1495 [5]. It is a good choice for the early 16th century, at least in those regions. The spellings without the final <-e> were pronounced \EER-mel\; with the final <-e> it was \EER-meh-l@\, where \@\ represents the sound of the in and . If this name doesn't appeal to you, we can offer you the lists of names in the German section of our Medieval Names Archive: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/german.shtml A couple of those articles contain 15th century names. We can also offer a list of late 15th century names compiled by one of our members from reference [5]; it is appended to this note. If you'd like more information about any particular name, we'll be happy to help. 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 Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 16 Dec 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Bahlow, Hans, _Unsere Vornamen im Wandel der Jahrhunderte_, Vol. 4 in the series _Grundriss der Genealogie_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn: C. A. Starke Verlag, 1965), s.n. Irmgard. [2] Talan Gwynek, "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia", revised edition (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/bahlow [3] Schwarz, Ernst, _Sudetendeutsche Familiennamen aus vorhussitischer Zeit_ (Koeln: Blehlau Verlag, 1957), s.nn. Irmel, Irmler. [4] Talan Gwynek, "15th-Century German Women's Names" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/german15f.htm [5] Schmid, Peter. Der Deutsche Orden und die Reichssteuer des Gemeinen Pfennigs von 1495: Die Grundherrschaft des Deutschen Ordens im Reich an der Wende vom 15. zum 16 Jahrhundert. (Neustadt: Degener in Kommission, 2000.) [6] Bahlow, Hans, _Dictionary of German Names_, tr. Edda Gentry (German-American Cultural Society, 1994 ISBN: 0924119357), s.nn. Armgardt, Ermgard, Ermel. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - German Feminine Given Names from 1495 Compiled by Aryanhwy merch Catmael, from Schmid, Peter. Der Deutsche Orden und die Reichssteuer des Gemeinen Pfennigs von 1495: Die Grundherrschaft des Deutschen Ordens im Reich an der Wende vom 15. zum 16 Jahrhundert (Neustadt: Degener in Kommission, 2000). Names are sorted by frequency, with variant spellings of a name grouped together. The numbers give the number of times each name occurs in our source; the number with the headword is the total of all variant forms. Margreth 53 Margaret 3 Margareth 4 Margaretha 1 Margredt 12 Margreth 19 Mergelein 9 Marlein 5 Els 26 Anna 19 Ann 2 Anna 17 Barbara 19 Barb 10 Barbara 4 Barbel 1 Barbelin 1 Berbelin 1 Berblein 2 Katherin 17 Katherein 2 Katherin 8 Katherina 4 Katheryn 1 Katheryna 1 Ketherlin 1 Dorothea 12 Dorothea 5 Dorlein 7 Endlin 11 (perhaps a diminutive of ) Endlin 7 Enlein 4 Eva 4 Kunigundt 4 Kunigundt 1 Kwne 2 Kwnn 1 Brigitta 3 Agatha 2 Agnes 2 Appolonia 2 Appel 1 Appolonia 1 Madalen 2 Madalen 1 Madelen 1 Reusin 2 Yrmel 2 Yrmel 1 Yrmell 1 Adelheit 1 Affra 1 Betzolte 1 Brida 1 Clara 1 Cristina 1 Eyda 1 Fronicka 1 (a form of ) Gery{sz} 1 (The symbol {sz} represents the letter ess-tzet) Martsch 1 Mechttelt 1 Niclas 1 Otilia 1 Ro 1 Salmein 1 (a diminutive of Salome) Thorlein 1 Vrsula 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 13 Mar 2005, Arval: Note [3] cited the wrong book.