ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2878 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2878 ************************************ 14 Apr 2004 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether or is an appropriate name for a German man between 1400 and 1550. Here is what we've found. is an English surname derived from a place name [1]. In most European cultures in our period, including English and German, surnames were not used as given names. The practice of using surnames as given names eventually became quite common in English, but not until after our period, though occasional examples occur in the late 16th century. And in fact, we have found one instance of as a given name in England in 1589 [2]. Normally, the 39 year difference between this example and your period would not be a major concern; but in this case, we know that this sort of name was not used much earlier [4]. Therefore, unless you decide you want a name appropriate for England in the 1570s or later, we recommend you choose a different given name [3]. In your original note, you asked about the German surnames , , and . We recommend very strongly against combining an English given name with a German surname: We know no context in which this would have been done. Although it is very common in the Society to try to indicate mixed parentage in one's name, it simply wasn't done in period. In the rare cases when two people from different countries married, their children were named according to the naming practices of the country where they lived. If they moved from one country to another, they would either retain their original names or use local equivalents. That is to say, if an Englishman named settled in a German city, he might have been known to the Germans as "John the Englishman" If he married and had a son, the boy might be known in English by an English name and in German by a German name. But no one would use a mixture of the two languages: They'd simply identify him in a manner appropriate to the language they were currently using. 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, Talan Gwynek, Juliana de Luna, and Maridonna Benvenuti. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 14 Apr 2004 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Ashton. [2] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Name Distribution in King's Stanley Marriages: 1573-1600" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/kingsstanley/ [3] We have also found a single instance of in a 1571 English document that records the names of French immigrants. The full name is , and it is clearly a phonetic rendering of the man's original French name: represents the French surname . We don't know what French name is represented by and we cannot recommend this oddity as the basis for historical re-creation. Kirk, R. E. G. (Richard Edward Gent), ed., Returns of aliens dwelling in the city and suburbs of London from the reign of Henry VIII. to that of James I. (Aberdeen [The University Press] 1900-1908.) Data transcribed by Sara L. Friedemann. [4] The earliest example we turned up is , wife of Robert dudley, Earl of Leicester, who is reported to have been born around 1538. See: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mysouthernfamily/myff/d0075/g0000061.html#I59417 http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/HOWARD2.htm http://www.usgenealogy.net/bf/Isabellanb.php?m=N&v=dudley http://www.worldroots.com/brigitte/famous/j/johnhowarddesc2.htm