ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3338 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3338 ************************************ 1 Sep 2007 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if is an authentic name for a late-16th-century French woman. Here is what we have found. So far as we have been able to tell, the French masculine didn't come to be spelled (where the / represents an acute accent over the previous letter) until after the end of the 16th century. [1,2,3] The same holds true for feminine forms of this name: The latest pre-1600 example that we have is from Ambleny in 1598, and here the name is recorded as . [4,5] In a database of 16th and 17th century marriage records from Lyon, we find a number of examples of . [10] However, we have been unable to determine whether or not the compilers of this database retained the original spellings of the names or whether they converted the names to standard modern forms. Based on the number of variant spellings, especially of uncommon names, which can be found in the database, it seems likely that at least some of the names have been retained in their original spellings, but we simply have no way of telling whether the examples of are such names. While is an excellent choice for a French woman of your period, we cannot at this point recommend either or as good re-recreation. The surname appears to be common among Acadian families, but we haven't been able to find any medieval or Renaissance examples of this spelling. The modern French word means 'edge, margin, brink, border, extremity, rim; shore, bank, strand, side; brim, skirt; hem, edging, lace'. The surname comes from , originally used for someone who lived at the side of a road. [9] We do not know when became , but it would not be surprising at all to see by the end of the 16th century. [7] The surname arose from the Old French word or 'marsh', which was spelled at least by the middle of the 15th century. [9,11] As with above, the byname was originally two words, e.g., , but by the 16th century the single word form is expected. The practice of using two surnames separated by 'called' wasn't commonly used by late-period French women, but we do have a few feminine examples from the 16th century: [8,10] Alaiz Blain dit de Pouet, 1503 Catherine de Chapropin, dit de Chabort, 1553 Catherine Gorguin dite de Chevye/res, 1538 Anne Le Clerc, dite Coictier, 1582 Marie de La Baume, dite Le Blanc, 1581 Nicole Girard dite Gaschon, 1582 Claudine Bleternas dit Gouttes, between 1550 and 1574 Note that of these seven examples, four use the grammatically correct feminine form . Based on this, a name such as is a fine choice for the late 16th century. 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 Adelaide de Beaumont, Mari neyn Brian, Talan Gwynek, and Coblaith Mhuimhneach. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 01 September 2007 -- References: [1] Academy of S. Gabriel Report #2583 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2583 [2] Academy of S. Gabriel Report #1762 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1762 [3] Academy of S. Gabriel Report #1279 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1279 [4] Mari Elspeth nic Bryan (Kathleen M. O'Brien), "Names Found in Ambleny Registers 1578-1616" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2005-2006), version 1.2, updated 01 June 2006. http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/Ambleny/ [5] The name was in use earlier; six examples between 1461 and 1587 can be found in [6]. Unfortunately, the source used for this article modernized all of the spellings, so we do not know what the underlying medieval forms are. They are almost certainly also . [6] Uckelman, Sara L., "Late Period French Feminine Names" (WWW: Self-published, 2005) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french/latefrench.html [7] For example, we find both and in Bordeaux between 1470-1520, and many other names in Friedemann, Sara L., "Names Found in Commercial Documents from Bordeaux, 1470-1520" (WWW: privately published, 2000). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french/bordeaux.html [8] Archives nationales (France), _Hommages rendus a\ la Chambre de France: Chambre des comptes de Paris, se/rie P, XIVe-XVIe sie\cles: inventaire analytique_ (Paris: Les Archives: Diffuse/ par la Documentation franc,aise, 1982-1985.), volumes 1-3. [9] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.nn. Bord, Desmarais. [10] "Releve/s de Contrats de marriage, Notaires de Lyon & du Lyonnais" (WWW: Archives Multimedia, 30 May 2007). Under 'Recherche' in the second column near the top of the page click on 'Recherche par nom'. On the resulting search page set the top drop-down menu ('Type du nom') to 'tous les noms de l'acte', enter the search term in the box 'Nom de Recherche', and click on the 'Rechercher' button. You'll get a table whose first three columns give the husband's name, the wife's name, and the quarter-century in which the marriage took place. http://www.cm69.com/ [11] Robert, Paul, _Le Petit Robert 1: Dictionnaire alphabe/tique et analogique de la langue franc,ais_ (Paris: Le Robert, 1985), s.v. marais.