ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2713 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2713 ************************************ 3 Apr 2003 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a 16th century Englishwoman, and whether we could suggest another given name more similar to your modern name . This letter is a brief answer to your question. is a fine choice [1], though it would be a mistake to expect your name to be spelled the same way every time: Spelling varied in 16th century English, in the sense that the same word or name was spelled differently, and all these spellings were equally correct. Other 16th century spellings of the name and its pet forms fall into three large categories, with a couple unusual variants [1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12]. Within each of the larger groups, all the spellings represent essentially the same pronunciation. Note that some of these variants are found only in one area of England; if you want to place your persona in a specific region, we may be able to suggest the most appropriate spellings. Elizabeth Elesabeth Elesepeth Elezabeth Elisabeth Elisabethe Elizabethe Elizibeth Ellesebeth Ellizabeth Ellysabeth Elysabeth Elysabethe Elyzabet Elyzabeth Elyzabethe Elyzaibethe Elyzbeth Helyzabethe Elsabeth Ellsabeth Ellsebeyth Ellssebeth Ellzebeth Elsabet Elsabeth Elsabethe Elsapeth Elsbeth Elsebeth Elsebethe Elsebeyth Elsebyth Elsepath Elsopeth Elspeth Elssebeth Elzabat Elzabeht Elzabehtt Elzabet Elzabeth Elzabethe Elzabett Elzabetth Elzebeth Isabel (sometimes used as a separate name, but still recognized as a variant of ) Ehsabell Esabell Esbell Essabel Essabell Essebell Essybell Ezabell Eziabell Isaabell Isabel Isabela Isabell Isabella Isable Isaebell Isbel Isbell Isebell Issabell Issabella Issable Issbell Issebell Issobell Iszabell Izabbell Izabel Izabell Izabelle Izebell Ysabell Yssabell Yzabell Other pet forms Elsabee Esebeyth Essebeth Izabeth itself is probably a modern name that didn't come into use at least until the 18th century [3]. We did find five instances of as early as 1583, but these might be abbreviations of [13]. If it were used as an independent name, it would have been pronounced roughly \@-LIE-z@\, where \@\ stands for the sound of the in or , and the middle syllable is pronounced roughly like the word . is an excellent choice; examples of this spelling are recorded from 1504 to 1605 [4, 14]. 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 Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian, Maridonna Benvenuti, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Julie Stampnitzky, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Juliana la Caminante de Navarra. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 3 Apr 2003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Names and Naming Practices in the Registers of the Church of St. Mary's, Dymock" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/dymock/ [2] 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/ [3] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Eliza. [4] Julian Goodwyn, "Brass Enscription Index" (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/brasses/ [5] Friedemann, Sara L. (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael), "16th Century Gloucestershire Names" (WWW: privately published, 1999-2001). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/late16.html [6] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Name Distribution in King's Stanley Marriages: 1573-1600" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/kingsstanley/ [7] Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "16th Century Names from Ormskirk Parish Registers" (WWW: privately published, 2001-2). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/ormskirk.html [8] Talan Gwynek, unpublished research. [9] Pears, Brian, "Marriages from the Durham St. Oswald Registers (1538-1734)" (WWW: GENUKI, 1996). Another example of appears in the marriage record from 2 May 1598 of and . http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/Transcriptions/DUR/DSO.html [10] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Naming Practices in 16th Century Gloucestershire" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 2001). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/GlocNamePractices [11] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Given Names in Chesham, 1538-1600/1" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/chesham/ [12] Talan Gwynek, "Late Sixteenth Century English Given Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/eng16/ [13] Pears, Brian, several sources (WWW: GENUKI, 1996), all available from http://www.yucs.org/~jules/names/parish/parish.html Marriages from the Durham St Margaret Registers (1558-1739) http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/Transcriptions/DUR/DSM.html Marriages from the Long Newton Registers (1564-1837) http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/Transcriptions/DUR/LON.html Marriages from the Newcastle St Andrews Registers (1600-1649) http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/Transcriptions/NBL/NSA1600.html Marriages from the Ryton Registers (1581-1699 http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/Transcriptions/DUR/RYT1581.html Marriages from the Sedgefield Registers (1581-1729) http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/Transcriptions/DUR/SED.html [14] Julie Stampnitzky, "Surnames in Durham and Northumberland, 1521-1615" (WWW: privately published, 2001). http://www.yucs.org/~jules/names/parish/surnames.html