ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2873
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2873
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14 Apr 2004
From: Josh Mittleman 


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Renault de Mont Saint-Michel> is an appropriate
name for a man born in Mont Saint-Michel between 1400 and 1600.  Here
is what we've found.

<Renault> is a fine choice, though perhaps not in that spelling.  In
the form <Regnault>, it was moderately common in Paris in the middle
of your period [1].  It appears as <Regnauld> in Provins, near Paris,
in 1587 [2].  We found your spelling <Renault> in Picardy in the 15th
century; the similar <Renaut> was recorded in Calais around 1300 [5,
6].  On balance, it seems not unlikely that <Renault> could have been
used in 15th century Normandy.

Your surname is also fine: The same source from 15th century Paris has
the analogous surname <du Mont Saint Eloy>.  Mont Saint-Michel, in
Normandy, was known by this name as early as the 10th century [3].
Similar place names were recorded throughout the Middle Ages and
Renaissance, including [4]:

  Mont St-Perre 1463
  Mont St-Jehan 1616

We therefore recommend you spell your surname <du Mont St-Michel>.

We hope this letter has been useful.  Please write us again if you
have any questions.  I was assisted in researching and writing this letter
by Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Juliana de Luna, Maridonna Benvenuti,
Kolozsvari Arpadne Julia, Alheydis von Kurckhingen, 

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  14 Apr 2004


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References

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

[2] Friedemann, Sara L. (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael), "Names from a 1587
Tax Roll from Provins" (WWW: privately published, 2002).
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/provins1587.htm

[3] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de
Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963), s.n. Mons.  The
Latin form <Montem Sancti Michaelis> was recorded in 966.

[4] Dazuat and Rostaing, s.n. Mons, section 13c.

[5] 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.101.

[6] Gysseling, Maurits, and Pierre Bougard, _L'Onomastique Calaisienne a
la Fin du 13e Siecle_, Onomastica Neerlandica (Leuven: Institut voor
Naamkunde, 1963), p.98.