ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2896
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2896
************************************

8 Sep 2004
From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael 

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You wanted to know if we could recommend a name appropriate for a
Norwegian man born in 1448 that sounds like <Shel>, your modern
nickname.  Here is the information we have found.

We believe we can recommend a given name which is pronounced
similarly to <Shel>.  The modern Norwegian name <Kjell>, which is a 
shortened form of the Old Norse name <Ketill>, is found in Norway 
from the 1400s on, though not at first in that spelling. [1]  The 
earliest examples that we have are the genitive (possessive) forms 
<Kiels>, from sometime after 1427, and <Kels>, from 1470. [4]  The 
corresponding nominative forms (used for the subject of a sentence, 
or for signing one's name) will have been <Kiel> and <Kel>, 
respectively.  This name was pronounced roughly \chel\, where \ch\ 
is the soft German <ch> of <ich>.  A rough approximation of this is 
\hyel\, where the \y\ is pronounced like the <y> in <yes>. [2]  
Either <Kiel> or <Kel> is a fine choice for your name.

In your period, the most common type of byname for a Norwegian man,
especially one in an upper class, is a patronymic byname, i.e., one
that indicates the bearer's father's name.  Below is a list of men's
names we've found in your period in Norway. [6]  We have grouped
variant spellings together, and numbers following the names are the
numbers of time we found the name.  (No number means we found it 
once).

  1480-1530
  ---------
  Anders (2), Anderss, Andhers
  {AE}rik, Eric (3), Erick, Erik (2)
  Esbiorn, Esbi{o|}rn
  Filppus
  Guszorm
  Halstein
  Hans, Ioansz, Ion (3), Jon (4), J{o|}ns (2)
  Hemmingh
  Ieppe
  Ketil (2), Ki{ae}til (2), K{ae}tils
  Laffrens (2), Larens, Lasse
  Mans, Mognus
  Martein
  Mattis
  Morten, Mortin
  Mykyl (2)
  Niels (2)
  Olaf (2), Olaff (10)
  Ole (3)
  {O|}rian, Yrian
  Paal (2)
  Peder (2), Pedher (2), Per (3)
  Rulff
  Sigurd, Sigurdh
  Stenar
  Swein, Swen
  Thord
  Torgeir
  Ywaar

In this list, {ae} or {AE} represents the a-e ligature, where the two
letters are squashed together to share a side, and {o|} and {O|}
represent the Norwegian slashed-O.

Many other forms of bynames also appeared, for example names
indicating were you grew up or were living, names indicating your
profession, who you were married to, adjectives describing yourself
either physically or mentally (usually derogatory). [5] If you are
interested, we may be able to suggest bynames appropriate for your
period.  Please let us know what initial sounds or letters you 
prefer.

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 you have
further questions.  Research and commentary on this letter was
provided by Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, Arval Benicoeur, and
Hartmann Rogge.

For the Academy,
-Arianui filia Catmail, 08 Sept 2004

--
References:

[1] Kruken, Kristoffer, ed. _Norsk personnamnleksikon_, 2nd ed.
(Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 1995) s.nn. <Kjell>, <Kjetil>

[2] More precisely, this can be represented in Kirschenbaum ASCII IPA
as [CEl]. [3]

[3] Blaheta, Don, "Representation of IPA with ASCII" (WWW:
Blahedo.org)
http://www.blahedo.org/ascii-ipa.html

[4] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n
Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and
Kobenhavn: 1931). s.n. <Ketill>

[5] Mode/er, Ivar, _Svenska Personnamn: Handbok fo:r universitetsbruk
och sja:lvstudier av Ivar Mode/er utgiven av Roger Sundqvist och
Carl-Erik Thors med en bibliografi av Roland Otterbjo:rk som
kompletterats och omarbetats av Sigurd Fries_, 3rd ed., 
Anthroponymica Suecana 5 (Lund: Studentlitteratur 1989, ISBN 91-44-
29033-0)., Chap. 8.

[6]  Fladby, Rolf, _Kongebrev i Diplomatarium Norvegicum_ (Oslo:
Kommisjonen for Diplomatarium norvegicum, 1965).  vol. 3, nr. 929;
vol. 6, nr. 632; vol. 14, nrr. 193-196, 697, 701; vol. 16, nr. 274;
front page: http://www.dokpro.uio.no/dipl_norv/om_dn.html
English search page:
http://www.dokpro.uio.no/dipl_norv/diplom_field_eng.html