ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2595 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2595 ************************************ 9 Jan 2003 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for an English woman living between 1200 and 1400, and whether she might have used arms with a blue field scattered with white estoiles with a gold demi-sun rising from the bottom and a white chief. Here is what we have found. is a slightly unusual form of the English feminine name , recorded in 1327. The apostrophe represents a scribal abbreviation that probably represents a final <-a>, and thus this example represents the Latinized form . More often, the name appears in Latin documents as and . The English, spoken form of the name was usually or , but we also have some evidence of or . This name was rare after the 13th century [1]. The spellings with a represented the pronunciations \RIK-il\ and \RIK-ild\. Those with most likely represent a pronunciation \RITCH-il\ or \RITCH-ild\, though in the 12th century the might represent the sound \k\. Cardiff is in Wales, but it was predominantly ethnically English in the 12th through 14th centuries, so it is perfectly reasonable to believe that an English name like could have been used there. Indeed, a number of men from Cardiff who took part in the late 12th century invasion of Ireland had Anglo-Norman names and were recorded with the surname [2]. The place name appeared in English documents of your period in a wide variety of spellings [2, 3, 4]: Hugh de Cardif 1203 Kardif 1211 Caerdiff 1216 Kaerdif 1262 Henry Cardeyf 1273 John Cardif 1273, 1275 William de Karhurdif c.1270 William de Kerdof c.1270 Keyrdif 1297 Kerdyf 1307 Keyrdif 1307 Kaerdiff 1314 Kaerdyf 1340 Cerdif 1393 Kardyff 1397 Kardiff 1423 Cardiff 1477 is a fine 13th century names for an Englishwoman from Cardiff; it would likely have been written . The surname was pronounced \ohf CAHR-deef\, where \oh\ represents the vowel sound in . The arms you described can be blazoned "Azure estoily argent, a demi-sun issuant from base or and a chief argent". This is a lovely design, but it is unfortunately unlikely to have been used in England in your period: We have never seen an example of a demi-sun in period English and Welsh arms. The design as a whole is also rather complex for your period, when English arms were generally still quite simple. If you particularly want to use the sun, then we recommend you use a full sun rather than the demi-sun. Or you might drop it and consider "Azure estoily, a chief argent" or even simpler, "Azure estoily argent" [5]. 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 Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, and Iago ab Adam. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 9 Jan 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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] Jones, Thomas, "The Place-Names of Cardiff" in South Wales and Monmouth Record Society, Publication No. 2 (1950). [3] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Cardiff. [4] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980), s.n. Cardiff. He also lists 1291, but this may be a modernized spelling. The use of was unusual in this period. [5] It's worth noting that there is good reason to believe that an estoile was considered simply an artistic variant of the straight-rayed mullet in your period. A 14th century treatise of heraldry treats them as the same charge. A modern scholar of early Anglo-French heraldry does as well [6, 7]. [6] Dean, Ruth J., 'An Early Treatise on Heraldry in Anglo-Norman', _Romance Studies in Memory of Edward Billings Ham_, ed. Urban T. Holmes, jun. (Hayward, Cal., 1967), pp. 21-9. [_California State College Publications_, 2.] [7] Brault, Gerard J., _Early Blazon: Heraldic Terminology in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries with Special Reference to Arthurian Heraldry_, 2nd ed. (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1997), s.v. estoile.