ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2860
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2860
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28 Jun 2004
From: Ursula Whitcher 


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Philippe d'Avioth des Champs> or <Philippe d'Avioth>
was an appropriate name for a man living in the Meuse area just north of
Montmedy in the Duchy of Lorraine, between 1350 and 1450.  We'll discuss
the given name first, and then the byname.

<Philippe> was used in one form or another throughout northern France
from at least the thirteenth century onward; it was particularly popular
among the ruling families of France and Burgundy.  In a study of given
names used in Metz in the Duchy of Lorraine between 1267 and 1298, forms
of <Philippe> appear 87 times; <Philippe> was the most common spelling.
[2]  We also found forms of <Philippe> in thirteenth- and
fifteenth-century Paris. [3, 4]  We believe that <Philippe> is a fine
name for a man from Lorraine in your period.

The town of Avioth in Meuse is recorded as <Aviot> in a document written
in 1230. [1]  We believe the modern spelling <Avioth> is appropriate
for your period.  We haven't found an example of a compound place-name
like <Avioth des Champs> in your period, so we recommend that you use
the shorter form.

Putting things together, we see that <Philippe d'Avioth> is a fine name
for a man living in Lorraine between 1350 and 1450.

I hope this letter has been useful to you.  Please don't hesitate to
write to us again if anything is unclear or if you have further
questions.  Blaise de Cormeilles, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur,
Maridonna Benvenuti, and Juliana de Luna assisted in writing and
researching this letter.

For the Academy,

Ursula Georges
28 June 2004

References:

[1]  Albert Dauzat & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms
de Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963) s.n. Avion

[2]  Harry Jacobsson, _E/tudes d'Anthroponymie Lorraine les Bans de
Tre/fonds de Metz (1267-1298)_ (Go:teborg: Gumperts Fo:rlag, 1955), p. 119.

[3]  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 has <Phelipe>.

[4]  Sara L. Friedemann (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael), "French Names from
Paris, 1423 & 1438" (WWW: privately published, 2002)
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/paris1423.htm has <Philippe>.