ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3141
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3141
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8 Aug 2006
From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael 

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You wanted to know if <Ruprecht Schiffmann> is an appropriate name for
a German man, originally from Bamberg, living any time between 1200
and 1600 (but preferably towards the beginning of this period).  You
also asked if <Schiffmann Ruprecht von Bamberg> would be correct. 
Here is the information we have found.

As you noted, <Ruprecht> is a fine choice for your given name. In 1282
we find the Latinized form <Ruopertus>. [6]  We find <Ruprecht> in
Silesia, in eastern Germany, in c.1390 and 1396, where we also find
the variant spelling <Roprecht> 1245, 1257, and the pet form <Ru"ppel>
1480 (where the <u"> represents a u-umlaut). [1]  We also found
<Rupert> 1495 in Frankfurt and <Ruprecht> 1495 in Vischpach and
between 1301-1350 in Plauen, as well as the Latinized form <Rupertus>
in Arnsburg in the 15th century. [2,3]  The change from <Ruo-> to
<Ru-> happened at a very early stage, and so <Ruprecht> is appropriate
for the entire period you're interested in.

The standard Middle High German spelling of <Schiffmann> is
<Schifman>.  We found <Schifman> recorded in Breslau in 1385, and in
1341 (place unknown). [4,6]  We didn't find any examples of this used
as a pre-pended byname (i.e., one which comes before the given name),
but we did find an example of <Schiff> 'ship' used as a prepended
byname in Baden-Wuerttemberg in 1495. [2]  However, it's likely that
this wouldn't have referred to a sailor, but rather to someone who
lived at a house called 'Schiff' -- we found one example of <zum
Schiff> in Basel in 1451, where <Schiff> is clearly a house name. [4]

The city Bamberg can be found in 16th century records spelled as
<Bamberg>, <Bamburgk>, and <Bampergk>. [5]  While <von Bamberg> is a
correct construction meaning 'of Bamberg', this type of byname became
progressively less and less common in most parts of Germany over the
course of your period.  In southern Germany, forms such as <Bamberger>
tended to be more common; we found one <Claus Schneyter gen[annt]
Bamberger> 'Claus Schneyter called Bamberger' recorded in 1463.
[6,7,8]  Plain <Bamberg> without a preposition or change in ending is
also a reasonable surname.

In one study of around 5000 names from Baden-Wuerttemberg in 1495, we
found only 22 examples of people using both two surnames, one of which
was of the form <von X>. [2]  Of these 22 examples, only three were of
the form <prepended byname> + <given name> + <von X>.  In each of
these three cases, none of the prepended bynames were derived from a
house name.  We therefore cannot recommend <Schiff Ruprecht von
Bamberg> as a reasonable name.  However, one of the examples was a
<Walter Fischer von Elwangen>, so <Ruprecht Schifman von Bamberg> is a
possible, albeit very rare, construction.

In sum, for the early part of your period we recommend you use just
one byname at a time.  By the late 15th century, a form such as
<Ruprecht Schifman von Bamberg> is possible, though unlikely. 
However, <Ruprecht Schifman>, <Ruprecht Bamberger>, and <Schiff
Ruprecht> are more typical.  <Ruprecht Bamberg> is reasonable if your
persona moved to the north of Germany, and <Ruprecht von Bamberg> is
also possible.

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 Talan Gwynek, Aelfwynn Leoflaede dohtor, Juliana de Luna,
Ari Ansson, and Walraven van Nijmegen.

For the Academy,
-Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 08 August 2006

--
References:

[1] Talan Gwynek, "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia", revised
edition (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1999).
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/bahlow/
The spelling <Roprecht> is somewhat anomolous; we believe the
development of the first vowel to <o> instead of <u> represents an
East Middle German dialect phenomenon.

[2] Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Friedemann), "German Given Names
from 1495" (WWW: privately published, 2003)
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/german1495.html

[3] Talan Gwynek, "Late Period German Masculine Given Names" (WWW:
Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997). 
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/germmasc/

[4] Bahlow, Hans, _Dictionary of German Names_, tr. Edda Gentry
(German-American Cultural Society, 1994 ISBN: 0924119357), s.nn.
Schiff, Schiffmann

[5] Uckelman, Sara L. "German Place Names from a 16th C Czech
Register" (WWW: Self-published, 2004). 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/germanplace.html

[6] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der
deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag,
1957-1960), s.nn. Bamberger, Ruprecht, Schiffmann

[7] The letters in brackets have been expanded from a manuscript
abbreviation.

[8] A name like this is strictly a documentary form.  Our impression
is that <X genant Y> is basically just a way of recording the fact
that the person used different bynames in different circumstances.  In
many cases, the first one may have been an inherited surname, for
instance -- while the second may have been a commonly used but more
informal nickname.  This therefore doesn't provide evidence for the
use of two bynames at the same time.