ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2933 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2933 ************************************ 28 Dec 2004 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if any of , , , , and is an appropriate surname for a medieval Englishman named . You also wanted to know if a man might have been identified as being from a particular forest. Here is the information we have found. is a fine choice for your given name from the Conquest on. [1,2] We did not find any examples of , but the rest of your choices are fine: We found examples of them all from the 13th century onwards. However, the spellings you asked about are the standard modern spellings; these spellings will not be appropriate for the entire medieval period. We found in Huntingdonshire in 1279, in 1327, both and in Yorkshire in 1379, and in 1381, as well as in 1601 in Yorkshire. [3,5,7] The byname originally derives from the given name or . [7] We found as in 1247, in 1250, in 1379, 1379, 1379 (the last three all from Yorkshire), and in 1604 in Wickham and in 1630 in London. [3,4,7] we find as in 1216x1307 in Wiltshire [6], in Durham St. Margaret in 1585 [4], in 1592 in Somerset, and in 1598 and 1599 in Devon and London, respectively. [3] Lastly, we found spelled in 1086, 1166, 1185, as well as in 1273 in Somerset, Cambridgeshire, and Buckinghamshire, in 1216x1307 in Derbyshire, and in 1379 in Yorkshire. We also found and both in 1230, as well as in 1601 from Gloucestershire and Hampshire, 1619 in London, and in 1586 in Somerset. [3,5,7] This byname has a number of origins, including a pet form of the given name . [7] Through roughly the 14th century bynames were still generally used literally in most parts of England. While a man might be identified with different bynames in different circumstances, it would be uncommon for him to be identified with two bynames at the same time. If you were to use two bynames at the same time, we recommend that they be of different types (e.g., a descriptive and a locative, indicating where you are from, rather than two locatives). In the list above, only and are not originally locatives. If you want to use two bynames, we recommend that you pick one of the earlier spellings of or , such as or . For example, a 14th century Yorkshireman might have been identified in some circumstances as his father's son, , and in others by his place of residence, . Occasionally, he might have been identified by both together, . By the time that inherited surnames were the norm, when both and are more appropriate spellings, an additional locative byname might have been used in formal circumstances as a sort of address, not strictly part of the person's name. , for example, would be a very careful 16th century way to identify who lived in Keyllwaye. We did not find any bynames based on the names of particular forests. The royal forests were huge tracts of woodland, not small locations; entire towns and villages were inside the forests. We suspect that a forest was simply too large and too vaguely defined to be useful as a place of origin by which to identify someone. Thus, we expect that someone who lived in Sherwood Forest near Sherwood would have been known as rather than . You may want to choose a town or village in one of the great forests as your persona's home. We found a list of English forests which might interest you: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Forests%20in%20the%20United% 20Kingdom Note that these are the modern names of the forests. However, you can use this to pick a location from where your persona might have been, and simply use a name like , without any reference to the forest. Or you might want to choose a surname that refers generically to the forest. We found a number of bynames from the 13th and 14th centuries that refered to some generic forest or woods, including the following: [3,7] Attewode, 1243 'at the wood' I the Wode, 1275 'in the wood' a la Wode, 1275 in le Wode, 1279 of the Wode, 1285 at the Wode, 1293 Bythewode, 1296 Under the Wode, 1332 de Foresta, 1204 ate Forest, 1300 del fforest, 1354 del Forest, 1379 de Forest, 1379 delfrid, 1176 de Frith, 1195 del Friht, 1197, 1203 del Frith, 1201 de fricht, ca.1248 in le Frith, 1276 atte Frithe, 1275 de la Frike, 1275 atte Verthe, 1295 atte Ferthem 1296 Ythefrithe, 1300 atte Fri3te, 1327 (the <3> represents the letter yogh, which was a precursor to the letter ) atte Ferghe, 1327 atte Ferkche, 1332 atte Vrythe, 1333 atte Frethe, 1377 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 Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Mari neyn Brian, Ursula Georges, and Kolosvari Arpadne Julia. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 28 December 2004 -- References: [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Hugh [2] Julian Goodwyn, "English Names from pre-1600 Brass Inscriptions" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/brasses/ [3] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980). s.nn. Forrest, Ingle, Kellaway, Laycock, Mallet [4] Julie Stampnitzky, "Surnames in Durham and Northumberland, 1521-1615" (WWW: privately published, 2001). http://www.yucs.org/~jules/names/parish/surnames.html [5] Hitching, F.K. & S. Hitching, S. _References to English Surnames in 1601_ (Walton-on-Thames: Chas. A. Bernau, 1910). pp. xliv, xlix [6] This notation means that the document was written sometime between the two dates. [7] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995). s.nn. Attwood, Firth, Forest, Ingell, Laycock, Mallet, Underwood, Wood