Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 457

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 457

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/457

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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked for our opinion of the name "Ilonia Blanco" in 13th century Spain. Here's what we've found.

We have not found any evidence of the name "Ilonia" or "Alonia" in Spain. The closest we found is "Alonsa", a feminine of the masculine "Alonso" (a form of "Alfonso") [1]. We also found the name "Nunilona", an Aragonese martyr from the ninth century [2], and "Illana", a name cited in 1245 that may be a variant of "Juliana" [1].

We found quite a few examples of the descriptive byname "Blanco" [3]. Our research suggests that it was more common in the eastern half of the Iberian penninsula.

Sesemundo Blanco 978
Oliba Blanco 1027
Petro Blanco 1170
Iohanni Blanc 1174 (genitive)
Rignal Blanco 1207
Martino Branco et Ausenda Branca 1258

In the 13th century, we believe it was standard for women to use feminine forms of descriptive bynames, i.e. "Blanca" rather than "Blanco". The second example above may show a woman, "Oliba", using the masculine form, but the last example shows the masculine and feminine forms used in the expected manner. "Branco" is a Portuguese variant of "Blanco".

Our best suggestion is that the lady consider the names "Illana Blanca" or "Alonsa Blanca". Either would be correct for her period.

I hope this letter has been helpful.

For the Academy,

Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] Talan Gwynek, A Glossary of Personal Names in Diez Melcon's 'Apellidos Castellano-Leoneses' (SCA Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings, 1993).

[2] Antonio Duran Gudiol, Los Santos Altoaragoneses (Huesca: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1957).

[3] Dieter Kremer, Bemerkungen zu den mittelalterlichen hispanischen Cognomina, III:127