Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 408

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 408

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/408

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 your name "Ghislaine de Fontanneau."

Your name is appropriate for 16th-century northern France.

We found "Ghislain" as a variant of "Gise\le" in Hainaut and other parts of northern France (e\ represents an 'e' with an accent grave). We think that the addition of the final -e is a reasonable variant for a French feminine name. The "Gh" is typical of the northern regions which were influenced by Flemish spelling, so we are not sure if the name is appropriate for Bretagne.

We found many names similar to "Fontanneau." (1) Our source doesn't specify that they were used in any particular region, and we have no reason to believe they weren't used in northern France. The names include "Fontenel," "Fonteneau," "Fontenelle," and "Fontenille." Given all these variants, we feel that "Fontanneau" is quite plausible for your period.

Arval Benicouer and Talan Gwynek contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel

(1) Dauzat, "Noms de Familles et Prénoms de France."