ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3317 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3317 ************************************ 17 Jun 2007 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for help creating an authentic name for a 14th century English woman, using a form of for your given name and a 14th-century precursor to your modern surname as your byname. Here is what we have found. Your choice of given name is excellent. was a common name in medieval England; it is a vernacular form of the learned name . [1] We find the spelling in 1273 and 1303, so this particular form is a good choice for the 14th century. [2] We also found the pet forms 1273 and 1275, 1279. [2] The name was so popular in England that by the mid-15th century the pet form had become a generic term for a woman. [3,4] In the 14th century, would have been pronounced \DJIL-y@n\. The pet forms and were pronounced \DJIL-@\ in the 13th century, but by the late 14th century into the 15th century, the pronunciation changed to \DJIL\. (The \@\ represents the sound of in or .) The surname appears to be an uncommon spelling of the place name in Leicestershire. We did not find any medieval forms of which display the internal , but we did find various 13th and 14th century forms of the town name: [5,6] Sileby 1205, 1311-12 Silebi from 1207 Sylebi from 1207 Silby 1328-1518 Sylby 1328-1518 Syleby 1332 Any of these spellings can be used to construct an authentic 14th century byname. At the end of the 13th century, bynames based on place names still tended to use the preposition; by the second quarter of the 14th century, the preposition tended to be dropped more and more. [7,8,9] So, for example, is a fine byname for the early part of the century; by the end of the century, by itself would not be unexpected. 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, 17 June 2007 -- References: [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Gillian. [2] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/reaney/ [3] --, _The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary_ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973). s.v. Gill [4] John Paston, writing to his wife Margaret in 1460, could say: 'My Lord Persy and all this house recomaund them to yow, dogge, catte and mowse, and wysshe ye had be here stille, for the sey ye are a good gille.' 'Paston letters and papers of the fifteenth century, Part I', Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library, 1994. http://etext.virginia.edu/mideng.browse.html [5] # Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.n. Silby. [6] _Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names, Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society_, Edited by Victor Watts, Edited in association with John Insley, Margaret Gelling (Cambridge University Press: January 2004), s.n. Sileby. [7] Uckelman, Sara L., "Index of Names in the 1292 Subsidy Roll of London" (WWW: Self-published, 2006) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/english/london1292.html [8] Uckelman, Sara L., "Names in the 1319 Subsidy Roll of London" (WWW: Self-published, 2006) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/english/london1319.html [9] Curtis, Margaret, "The London lay subsidy of 1332" in George Unwin, ed., _Finance and trade under Edward III_ (Manchester: University Press; London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1918).