ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2919 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2919 ************************************ 1 Nov 2004 From: Femke de Roas Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us if would be a reasonable name for a late 16th century French woman. We have not found any examples of as a French given name in the Middle Ages or Renaissance. One dictionary of English names says that the name has been used occasionally in France since the Renaissance, but that statement is too vague to be useful. It cites only one example of the name, a German noblewoman who lived in the late 17th century [1]. We would be happy to help you choose a different given name that we are able to find evidence for in the period you desire. We have some resources online to help you get started. Please see the French section of our Medieval Names Archive found here: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/french.shtml We can be more helpful where the byname is concerned. While we do not have examples of this name, it fits a pattern common in French surnames, plus a masculine given name, (a variant of ) [2, 3, 4]. These surnames originally identified a person as her father's child, but by the 16th century were mostly used as inherited family names, as was the custom in most of France. Some examples of surnames of this type are [2, 3, 5] Denicole (Paris, 1423, a contraction of ) d'Albert (Normandy, 16C) Dambroise (modern), a contractction of + Daudon (modern), + Daudier (modern), + Daudin (modern), + Either or are very plausible 16th century French surnames. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. Research and assistance in writing this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Mor inghean Chathail, Gunnvor Silfraharr, and Eirik Halfdanarson. For the Academy, Femke de Roas ______________________________________________________________________ REFERENCES [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988) s.n. . [2] Friedemann, Sara L. (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael), "French Names from Paris, 1421, 1423 & 1438" (WWW: privately published, 2002). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/paris1423.htm [3] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987) s.nn. , , , , . [4] 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 [5] Friedemann, Sara L. (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael), "French Names from 1601" (WWW: privately published, 2002). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french1601.htm [6] Cateline de la Mor, "Sixteenth Century Norman Names" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/cateline/norman16.html