ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2785
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2785
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28 Oct 2003
From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael 

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You wanted to know if <Alexander Gervais de Poitiers> is an 
appropriate name for a Frenchman living between 1200 and 1400.  Here 
is what we have found.

We found various forms of <Alexander> in France during your time 
period.  In Paris, we find spelling <Alixandre> in 1292 and 
<Alexandre> in 1421, 1423, and 1438. [1,2]  In Picardy, we find two 
instances of <Alexandre> or <Alixandre> in the 13th century, and 
eight in the 14th century. [3]  Lastly, in Metz between 1267 and 
1298, we find the following forms, listed with relative frequencies.  
The first group is examples of the full name, whereas the second two 
groups are groups of nicknames of <Alexandre>. [4]

  Alexandre   23
  Alexandres  18
  Alixandre   17
  Alixandres   9
  Allexandres  8
  Allexandre   4
  Allixandres  1
  Allixandre   1

  Alixandrin   3
  Allexandrin  2
  Alexandrin   2
  Alexandrins  2
  Allexandrins 1

  Xandrins    19
  Xandrin     17
  Xanderin     4
  Xanderins    3
  Xand(r)in    1

<Alexandre> or <Alixandre> is a fine choice for your given name.

We also found a number of examples of <Gervais>, including 
<Gerve\s>, <Gerve\se>, and <Gervesin> (a pet form) in Paris in
1292 [1], and <Gervaisot> (also a pet form) in Paris in 1423 and 
1438. [2]  (Here, the backslash represents a grave accent over
the previous letter).  In Picardy, we find two instances of
<Gervasius> (a Latin form) or <Gervaise> in the 13th century and
three in the 14th century. [3]  A man named <Alexandre> whose 
father's name was <Gervaise> could have been recorded as <Alexandre 
Gervaise>; in fact, we find one <Jaquemart Gervaise> recorded in 
1399.  Earlier examples of this construction (a man's name followed 
by his father's name otherwise unchanged) include <Jehans Pierekin> 
1271 and <Jehans Jaquemart> 13th century; these were all recorded in 
Picardy. [3]

During your period, there were two main different ways of forming
locative bynames (bynames that identify where the bearer is from).
These are either using <de> 'of' with the name of the city, or an
ethnic style byname, such as <le Breton> 'the Breton'.  In many
cases, especially when the location in question is a region and not
a city, these ethnic style bynames were more common than explicit
locatives with the preposition.  For example, <le Breton>, <le
Normant> 'the Norman', and <le Poitevyn> 'the man from Poitou'
are more common than <de Bretagne>, <de Normandie>, or <de Poitiers>.
In fact, we have not found any example of <de Poitiers>; all our
examples are of the ethnic style byname.  In 1229 and 1296, we
find a man recorded as <le Poitevin>. [3]  Since <Poitiers> is
in Poitou, we recommend that you use <le Poitevin> or <le Poitevyn>,
instead of <de Poitiers>.

Until the very end of your period, people were generally recorded
with only a single byname.  It was not uncommon, however, to find
the same person recorded by different bynames at different times.

You'll note that none of the data that we've cited is from any place
particularly close to Poitiers.  We don't have any good sources from
that area, and so we have to base our recommendations on the
information from Picardy and Paris instead.  We simply can't see what
the most likely spellings of these elements would be for Poitiers, but
both <Alexandre Gervaise> and <Alexandre le Poitevin> are fine names
for someone from Poitiers who is now living in either Paris or
Picardy.

We hope that this letter has been useful to you and that you won't
hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have
further questions.  Research and commentary was provided by Talan
Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Maridonna Benvenuti, Juliana de Luna, and 
Richenda de Jardin.

For the Academy,
-Aryanhwy merch Catmael

--
References:

[1] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of 
Paris", Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium 1996 (SCA: 
Montgomery, Alabama; WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997).
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html 

[2] Friedemann, Sara L. (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael), "French Names 
from Paris, 1421, 1423 & 1438" (WWW: privately published, 2002-2003). 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/paris1423.html  

[3] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Etude d'anthroponymie picarde, les noms 
de personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIe, XIVe, XVe siecles_ (Amiens, 
Musee de Picardie, 1967). p.20

[4] Jacobsson, Harry, _E/tudes d'Anthroponymie Lorraine les Bans de 
Tre/fonds de Metz (1267-1298)_ (Go:teborg: Gumperts Fo:rlag, 1955). 
p.124