ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2904 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2904 ************************************ 17 Aug 2004 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if <Elizabeth Eve la Lyonnaise> is an authentic name for a woman born in Lyon c.1510. If neither <Elizabeth> nor <Eve> is a good choice, you asked about <Anne> and <Marie>. Here is the information we have found. The use of two given names was rare in France until the end of the 16th century. For a woman from your period, we recommend that you use just one given name. [9] Unfortunately, neither <Elizabeth> nor <Eve> is a good choice. While <Elizabeth> is found in France in the early Middle Ages [5], it seems to have fallen out of use by the 13th century, in favor of the forms <Isabelle> and <Isabeau> and variants. [8] We have found five instances of <Eva> or <Eve> in Picardy in the 13th century, and one instance each from the 14th and 15th centuries. [6] We did not find any instances in the 16th century, and none in Lyon at all, and therefore don't recommend that you use this name. Our best source for feminine names from Lyon is a tax record from 1446. Though this is slightly before your period, we don't doubt that the feminine names found here were still used in your period. We found the following: [4] Alizan Aynarde Benoite Catherine Dete Eustace Florete (twice) Franc,oyse, Franc,oise (where <c,> represents a c-cedilla) Le/onarde Le/onete Marguerite Meraude Pe/ronete, Pe/rronete Te/venete The slash in some of the names represents an acute accent mark over the preceding letter. Every woman but one in this document is identified as the wife, daughter, or widow of a man. No woman's name is directly followed by any byname or surname. The one woman not identified by relation is simply <la Tevenete>, which is probably is a feminine form of her husband's or father's name. Other feminine names that we found, from slightly after your period are: [7] Andre/e (b.1628) Anthoinette (b.1620) Catherine (b.1625) Claudine (twice, one b.1618) Marguerite (b.1632) Marie (b. 1615) Marie-Magdalene (b.1636) Monette Pernette Pomponne Madeleyne Of your four choices for given name, we recommend <Marie> as the best choice for a woman from Lyon in your period. We do not believe that <la Lyonnaise> 'woman from Lyon' is a reasonable byname for your period. By the middle of the 15th century, bynames in France were by and large fixed, inherited surnames, like modern day surnames, and not descriptive bynames. [3] The only example that we have found of <la Lyonnaise> (in the Provencal form <la Lyonnesa>) in the 16th century was a whore [1,2]; and as far as we can tell, the bynames used by whores in this period did not tend to be of the same type used by people of the upper classes. Therefore, this one example is not a good guide to follow. Instead, we recommend <de Lion> found in the 1446 census, as the byname of a very rich, possibly noble, man. [4] The name of the city is also spelled <Lyon> in this source, so <de Lyon> is also a reasonable byname. 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 Jillian Saint Andre, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Laurensa de Chambord. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 17Aug04 -- References: [1] Talan Gwynek, "Late Period Feminine Names from the South of France" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/latefrenchfem/ [2] Provencal (properly spelled with c-cedilla), also known as Occitan or Langue d'Oc, was a language spoken in the south of France through much of our period. It was a member of the same family of languages as French, Italian, and Spanish, but distinct from all of them. Provencal names would not be considered "French", nor would we expect to find a French given name combined with a Provencal byname. [3] In a census of Lyon from 1466, we found no literal ethnic bynames like <la Lyonnaise>. [4] [4] De/niau, Jean, Les Nomme/es des Habitants de Lyon en 1446 (Lyon: A. Rey, 1930). [5] Jacobsson, Harry, _E/tudes d'Anthroponymie Lorraine les Bans de Tre/fonds de Metz (1267-1298)_ (Go:teborg: Gumperts Fo:rlag, 1955). p.206f has <Elisabeth> 1311 from Lorraine and a significant scattering of <Elisabeth> and close variants from the 12th and 13th centuries. [6] 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.22 [7] Zeller, Olivier, _Les recensements lyonnais de 1597 et 1636: de/mographie historique et ge/ographie sociale_ (Lyon: Presses Universitaires de Lyon, c.1983), index [8] Several hundred private genealogical website mention a Frenchwoman <Elisabeth de Vesin> or <Vezin> who was reportedly married in the late 16th century. None of them cite the original source for this example, so we cannot evaluate it. In our experience, private genealogical websites cannot be assumed to be reliable without independent verification. Without knowing the sources for this citation, we cannot recommend you use <Elisabeth> based on this one example. [9] L. Perouas, B. Barrie\re, J. Boutier, J.-C. Peyronnet, & J. Tricard, _Le/onard, Marie, Jean et les Autres: Les Pre/noms en Limousin depuis un Mille/naire (Paris: E/ditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1984), p. 120ff. In the Limousin, quite close to the Angoumois, double given names were an innovation in the early 17th century.