ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2730 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2730 ************************************ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTE: This report was originally sent as a direct reply, and therefore is not as reliable as regular Academy reports. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! We have done some preliminary research on the name , and we felt it would be best to contact you now so that your friend can decide how to proceed. We did not find in any of our French sources, but a search of the internet shows that it is indeed in use as a modern given name as a modern surname. A couple of our sources discuss a similar surname, or (the slash in the name represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter). This is a French surname that derived from the given name [1, 2]. The suffix <-in> was not uncommonly used as a diminutive ending in late-period French (much as <-y> is used in English names like and ). We have found an example of this suffix applied to the given name in a 15th century source: , [3]. The use of for is a little unusual, and we're quite confident that these name could just as easily have been spelled with a . Therefore, this evidence justifies as a 15th century French given name. The variant spelling very likely arose only after the name came to be used as a surname, so we recommend that your friend use the earlier version. We have not found a dated period example of the surname , but it is fairly common in modern French [2] and follows a common pattern of name formation for medieval French. We are quite comfortable recommending it as a late-period surname. I hope this has been helpful. If you have further questions, please write again. Arval for the Academy 07 May 2001 [1] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille_ (Librairie Acade/mique Perrin, 1997), s.n. Je/rome. [2] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.nn. Je/rome, Dulac. [3] Aryanhwy merch Catmael and Talan Gwynek, "Names Found in Commercial Documents from Bordeaux, 1470-1520" (WWW: privately published, 2000). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/bordeaux.html