ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2794 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2794 ************************************ 17 Mar 2004 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an appropriate name for a Scottish woman living in the Lowlands in the early- to mid-15th century. Before I start, I'd like to apologize for the amount of time it has taken us to complete your report. We hope that this information is still useful to you. Your choice of given name is fine. In the first half of the fifteenth century, we find the following forms of the name in Scotland: [1] Catering* 1 1521 (1) Catte 4 1531 (2), 1540 (1), 1548 (1) Katering* 1 1521 (1) Katherene 1 1543 (1) Katherin 6 1502 (1), 1508 (1), 1509 (3), 1543 (1) Katherine 17 1500 (1), 1505 (1), 1548 (6), 1549 (7), 1550 (2) Katring 1 1523 (1) Katring* 1 1521 (1) Katryne 1 1509 (1) Katte* 1 1521 (1) Katty 1 1513 (1) Kitte 2 1520 (1), 1531 (1) Kytte 1 1543 (1) In this list, an asterisk after a spelling indicates that it was expanded from a transcription which may have contained errors; unless the same spelling is also listed without an asterisk, these spellings are suspect but still indicate that some (possibly different) form of the name was used in the year(s) indicated. The byname construction or represents cases where the surname of an individual or immediate family is in transition; the family or person used to be known by one surname, but for various reasons are coming to be known by a different surname. Examples that we've found of this include: Jonet strachin als' thomsone, 1502 [2] cristene croftis alias ken'lle, 1528/29 [2] annable' duncan als hauchis, 1535 [2,7] margret waudy alias andersoun, 1549 [2] Jonet Macgregor alias Johnesone, 1567 [3] Janet Pickieman, alias Tappie, 1599 [5] as well as these families [2]: Maneris als Barbour family Tail3our als Gray family [6] Waudy als Anderson family In these names, is sometimes an abbreviation and sometimes represents the word meaning 'also' or 'as'. [4,8] If it's not an abbreviation, then the apostrophe likely represents a meaningless scribal flourish coming up from the . If it's an abbreviation, it is of , , , or , all words meaning 'also'. [4] Given these examples, the construction or is fine, though it is possible that the double surname was only used in writing. We have found the following examples of the bynames in Scots records from the 15th and 16th centuries: [5] Douglase 1429 Dulglass 1433 Dulglace 1454 Dovglas 1499 Douglace 1504 Dowglace 1511 Dougles 1529 Dawgleiss 1540 Dowglass 1559 Dougleische 1583 Based on these examples, a 16th century is not implausible. Variation between , , and is quite common, so in any of the names above it would be reasonable to substitute for a or , so speculating based on the 1499 example is very reasonable. The pronunciation of Douglas was probably still \DOO-glahss\ in the 16th century, with \OO\ being the sound of the in English and , rather than a modern pronunciation like \DUG-liss\. Forms of the surname include [5]: Alisandre 1424 Alexander 1435, 1438 Aleckander 1501 Alisschonder 1536 Alsinder 1539 Alschinder 1546 alschunder 1581 Alshunder 1597 Alschoner 1613 We believe is fine for the early 16th century, as well as the early 15th century. 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 on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Adelaide de Beaumont, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Mari neyn Brian, Juliana de Luna, Talan Gwynek, Jayme Dominguez del Valle, Richenda du Jardin, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and Margaret Makafee. For the Academy, -Arianuia de Cairmerdin, 17Mar2004 -- References: [1] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "Early 16th Century Scottish Lowland Names" (WWW: Privately published: 2001). http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/lowland16 [2] The manuscript Aberdeen Council Registers, Volumes 8 - 20 (1501- 1551), in the Aberdeen City Archives. [3] Friedemann, Sara L. (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael), "Names of women mentioned in the Perth Guildry Book 1464-1598" (WWW: privately published, 2003). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/perth.html [4] Robinson, Mairi, ed., _The Concise Scots Dictionary_ (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1987). s.vv. alse, als [5] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986). s.nn. Alexander, Douglas, Pickman [6] The <3> represents the letter yogh, which looks somewhat like a 3, and is pronounced like the in English . [7] This name is actually recorded as . Here, the first apostrophe in and the one in represent the removal of an . [8] _The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary_ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973). s.v. als