ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3165 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3165 ************************************ 9 Sep 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if or is an appropriate name for a Scottish man living around 1100. Here is what we have found. We don't have any good resources for Scottish names in the early 12th century. Because you also asked about the broader period 1000-1300, we've focused on the 13th century, from which we do have records. During the 12th and 13th centuries, a number of different languages were spoken in Scotland including: * Norse, spoken in the far north and the Western Isles, but well on its way to being subsumed by Gaelic culture except in the Northern Isles; * Gaelic, spoken through much of the country; * Norman French, spoken by Anglo-Norman settlers and their Scoto-Norman descendents, mostly in the south; and * English, spoken mainly in the southeast and the towns by descendents of the earlier English population and the Anglo-Norman settlers. Additionally, many records from this period were written in Latin. Some form of is appropriate for most of your period; the name was introduced into Scotland in 1080, though we don't know in what form. [1] We find in England c. 1100, as well as 1273, 1284, and 1284. [2,3] In Norman-French records from Scotland in 1296, we find both and , with being somewhat more common. [4,5] In the same records, we also found one example of and one of . [6] In Latin records from the late 13th century, the name is spelled . [7] During the 13th century, we find the bynames 1235 and 1271. [8] appears to be the most typical Norman French spelling of the place during this period; in records from 1296 it is spelled this way almost exclusively. We found one example of , but this may be a transcription error in our source. [9] We did not find any examples of the place name ending in <-e>. Based on this, we can recommend as a fine name for a 13th-century Scottish man, though might be a bit more typical. The name may be appropriate earlier, but we don't have the resources to confirm this for sure. 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 you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Mari neyn Brian and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 09 September 2006 -- References: [1] Academy of S. Gabriel Report #2201 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2201 [2] Clark, Cecily. 'A Witness to Post-Conquest English Cultural Patterns: The _Liber Vitae_ of Thorney Abbey', in _Words, Names and History: Selected Writings of Cecily Clark_, Peter Jackson, ed. (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1995). The name appears in a list of monks recorded 1100-1110. It may incorporate older material, but we suspect that the name came into use in honor of Pope Alexander II (1061-73). If so, it would make sense for it to be used first as a religious name. [3] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.nn. Alexander, Alexandra. [4] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Bartholomew [5] "Ragman Rolls" (WWW: Rampantscotland.com) http://www.rampantscotland.com/ragman/blragman_index.htm s.vv. A, B, C, D, E, F, H, I, K, L, M, P, S Note that in this version of the rolls, the long has been consistently transcribed as . We've found a few other mistakes in the transcription, so this source should be used with care. [6] ibid., s.vv. B, H [7] ibid., s.vv. A, H, M, P, S [8] Black, op. cit., s.n. Dumbarton [9] Ragman Rolls, op. cit., s.vv. A, C, D, F, G, I, K, M, S, V