ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3228
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3228
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30 Nov 2006
From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael 

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You wanted to know if <Wolff Eisenheur> or <Wolfaert Eisenheur> is an
authentic name for a German living between 1350 and 1500.  Here is
what we have found.

<Wolfaert> is a Dutch name [1,2,3,4], not a German one.  The German
form of the name is <Wolfhart>.  We find a man names <Heinr[ich]
Wolfhart> in 1257; <Wolfhart> is almost certainly his father's given
name. [5]  We also found a man named <Wolfhart Wolffsneider> in 1408. [11]

<Wolff> or <Wolf> is a pet form of any name beginning <Wolf->, such as
<Wolfer>, <Wolfgang>, etc.  We find numerous examples of <Wolff>
throughout Baden-Wuerttemberg in the late 15th-century, and it's a
fine choice for earlier as well. [6,7,8,9]

We can therefore recommend <Wolfhart> as a good choice for your
period; a man named <Wolfhart> could also have been known as <Wolf> or
<Wolff>.

<Eisenheur> appears to be a modern variant of the surname
<Eisenhauer>, a word originally used to describe ironsmiths. [12]
The spellings we find during your period are <Eisenhauer>, recorded
in 1312 and 1446, and <Isenhouwer>, in Eschau in 1419. [10] 

Additionally, in the areas where our examples of <Wolff> and
<Wolfhart> come from, <eisen-> was commonly spelled <eysen-> and
<-hauer> spelled <-hawer> during your period, so <Eysenhawer> would be
particularly well suited to use with <Wolfhart> in the 15th century.
[6,9,13]

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 Eleyne de Comnocke and Talan Gwynek.

For the Academy,
-Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 30 November 2006

--
References:

[1] Friedemann, Sara L., "15th Century Dutch Names" (WWW: privately
published, 2000). 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch/dutch15.html

[2] Friedemann, Sara L., "Dutch Names 1358-1361" (WWW: privately
published, 2000) 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch/earlydutch14.html

[3] Friedemann, Sara L., "Dutch Names 1393-1396" (WWW: privately
published, 2000) 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch/dutch14.html

[4] Uckelman, Sara L. & Kym Banoczi, "Names from Antwerp, 1443-1561"
(WWW: Self-published, 2005-2006) 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch/plaiser.html

[5] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der
deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag,
1957-1960), s.n. Wolfhart.

[6] Uckelman, Sara L., "German Names from 1495" (WWW: privately
published, 2002-2006) 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/german1495.html

[7] Uckelman, Sara L., "German Names from Kulmbach, 1495" (WWW:
self-published, 2005) 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/kulmbach1495.html

[8] Uckelman, Sara L., "German Names from Rottweil,
Baden-Wuerttemberg, 1441" (WWW: Self-published, 2005-2006) 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/rottweil1441.html

[9] Uckelman, Sara L., "German Names from Nu"rnberg, 1497" (WWW:
privately published, 2005) 
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/nurnberg1497.html

[10] Bahlow, Hans, _Dictionary of German Names_, tr. Edda Gentry
(German-American Cultural Society, 1994 ISBN: 0924119357), s.n.
Eisenhauer 

[11] Schwarz, Ernst, _Sudetendeutsche Familiennamen aus
vorhussitischer Zeit_ (Koeln: Blehlau Verlag, 1957), s.n. Wolfschneider

[12] Brechenmacher, op. cit., s.n. Eisenhauer

[13] Schwarz, op. cit., s.nn. Eisen-, Hauer