Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 319

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 319

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/319

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings,

Here's the information we found on the name "Adeliz de Hauerford."

Basically, you've got a perfect name. Ekwall is the standard source for English place-names, and you can be sure "Hauerford" was a medieval place. Locative names were common, and it would be perfectly appropriate for your persona to have a locative surname.

There's no reason to believe you would have used the same surname in all circumstances. In your period, surnames were given for convenience and not set by law or custom. While it would have been common to call you "Adeliz de Hauerford," you probably would have appeared in some records as "Adeliz relicta <husband>" ("relicta" is Latin for "widow"), or (more rarely) as "Adeliz filia <father>" ("filia"=Latin "daughter"). Other surnames might have been used, depending on your home, the lands you held, and any nicknames you might have been given.

For locative surnames, "de" (from Latin) is overwhelmingly used in English records. "at" is usually used in reference to an unnamed landmark (as in "at the River" or "at the Mill"). "of" might have been used in speech, but it's impossible to say.

Talan Gwynek, Arval D'Espas Nord, and Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful. If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel