ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3215 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3215 ************************************ 31 Oct 2006 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for help developing a name appropriate for an Italian woman named living in England in the late 16th century, and wanted to know if the byname is an authentic choice for such a woman. Here is what we have found. While it is common in the SCA for people to indicate a mixing of cultures by using elements from different languages in a single name, this in general was not done during our period. Instead, a person would be known by a name consistent with the language of the place where he lived; for example, the Englishman was known as in Italian ( being the Italian form of , and a similar-sounding byname.) [2] An Italian woman living in England in the 16th century would therefore have had an English-language name, not an Italian-language one. As it happens, we have some extensive information about how names of foreigners living in London were recorded in English in the late 16th century. We have found references to Italian women recorded in English with the names and in 1571. [1] Based on this, we believe that an Italian woman named would be known as simply in English. There is a little village called in Shoreham, Kent, which we find recorded as in 1275. [2] The surname , which is recorded in Cornwall in 1601, may be a later form of this place name. [3] While we do not have any examples of foreigners living in England in the 16th century using literal locative bynames referring to English places (such as ), it's likely that an Italian woman married to an English man and living in England would have used her husband's surname. [4] Based on this, we can therefore recommend as a good name for an Italian woman living in England and married to an Englishman with the surname . 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. Additional research and commentary on this letter was provided by Maridonna Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, and Adelaide de Beaumont. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 31 October 2006 -- References: [1] Uckelman, Sara L., "Names of Aliens in London, 1571" (WWW: Self-published, 2005-2006) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/aliens.html [2] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Rundall [3] Hitching, F.K. & Hitching, S, _References to English Surnames in 1601_ (Walton-on-Thames: Chas. A. Bernau, 1910), p. lviii. [4] By the 15th century, the pattern of women taking their husband's surnames upon marriage was fairly well established in England [5], and examples of marriages between Englishmen and foreign men can be found in the source used for [1]. [5] McKinley, Richard. _The Surnames of Oxfordshire_, English Surnames Series III (London: Leopard's Head Press, 1977), p.191.