ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3014 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3014 ************************************ 4 Mar 2005 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether or is an appropriate name for a man from Leicestershire, England in the period 1270-1320. Here is what we have found. is of course a fine choice for your period, though it wasn't as common in your period as the pet form [1]. The byname is an excellent choice for your period. It derives from the Middle English "blanket", and was originally used for a man who made or sold blankets. Your alternate name is also a fine choice, but it is a Latin form which would only have been used in writing (or in some circumstance where one was speaking in Latin). In everyday speech, one would use an English form like , , or [2]. The names of shires were rarely used as surnames. We've found a few examples -- e.g. 1313, 1379 [3] -- but it was far more common for a surname to refer to a specific town or village. For example, we found these surnames based on the city of Leicester [4, 5]: de Lestre 1273 de Leycestre 1273 de Leycester 1287 de Laycestre 1305, c.1313 Lycester 1381 The Latin was generally used in writing in place of English . We can't rule out the possibility of a surname , but given the complexity of that placename, we think is far more likely. In your period, it was rare for a man to be identified by two surnames at the same time. He might have been known by his occupation in some circumstances, , but we would expect to see both surnames used together only in the most formal written documents. 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. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Aryanhwy merch Catmael and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 3 Mar 2005 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Robert. [2] Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Friedemann), "12th & 13th Century English Textile Surnames" (WWW: privately published, 1999). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/textile.html [3] Academy of S. Gabriel reports 1869, 2359 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1869 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2359 [4] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Leicester. [5] Bardsley, Charles, _A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames_ (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980), s.n. Leicester.