ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2737 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2737 ************************************ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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! I'm afraid your question doesn't fit within the service the Academy offers. However, it piqued my interest and I found a little information that you may find useful. According to www.uni-c.dtu.dk/~unikcm/Sigourney/, the actress Sigourney Weaver uses as a stage name, and chose it from a minor character in the book "The Great Gatsby". A search for "Sigourney" on the web turns up several sites that discuss its origin, but they contradict one another, none gives any source for its asseritions, and so they should probably be ignored. More usefullly, it also turns up a number of examples of as a surname and as an element in place names in the US. That suggests the the given name was originally derived from a surname -- a fairly common pattern in American naming in the 19th and 20th century. That led me to A. Dauzat and C. Rostaing "Dictionnaire Etymologique des noms de lieux en France", which lists , a place in the Vendee region of France. I can't find any clear link between that place and the American surname, but it's a plausible guess. In other words, I'm guessing that the French place gave rise to the surname <(de) Sigournais>. When some people of that name immigrated to the US, they adopted a somewhat anglicized spelling or (both appear in the web search). Sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century, the surname was used as a girl's given name. Possibly, F. Scott Fitzgerald was the first to do so for his character in The Great Gatsby [1]. The actress adopted it as a stage name, and that has produced its modern popularity. Arval for the Academy 03 Mar 2002 Notes [1] I found that on the web at one of the thousands of Sigourney Weaver websites. Mrs. Sigourney something-or-other was someone's aunt, who is mentioned in passing but never appears otherwise.