Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 577

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 577

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/577

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked for our opinion of "Remy Martin de Lyon" as a late-period French name. Here is what we have found.

The name is quite appropriate for your period, but as you probably know, "Remy Martin" is the name of a modern brand of cognac. Anyone hearing the name will immediately think of the modern reference. It is possible that the College of Arms will refuse to register the name for this reason. More importantly, the use of the name will always introduce a modern reference into our medieval game, breaking the medieval mood to some extent. It is up to you whether or not you choose to do that, but we would advise you to consider carefully before you do so.

"Remy" and "Martin" are recorded before your period, in Paris in 1292 [1]. Both names remained in use to the end of our period. We also found evidence of "Marti" or "Marty", variants of "Martin" typical of the southern region of France where you have set your persona [2]. We were unable to find evidence that "Remy" was used in southern France, though it is certainly possible that it was; and we found no evidence that "Marten" is a French form of "Martin". It is more typical of German or Dutch [3].

There are several ways to interpret the name "Remy Marti de Lyon": You could be Remy, the son of Marti, who lives in Lyon. This interpretation is likely in the 14th century but not much later. You could be Remy-Marti (a compound given name) who lives in Lyon. This interpretation is also likely in the 14th century. You could be Remy-Marti whose surname is "de Lyon" (and who may or may not live there). This interpretation is possible only late in our period, in the 15th or 16th century, when inherited surnames were common in France. Finally, you could be Remy whose surname is "Marti" and who lives in Lyon. This interpretation is probably less likely than the others, since it mixes an inherited surname (Marti) with a literal byname (de Lyon). It is possible in the late 14th and early 15th century when French naming was beginning to use inherited surnames.

I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek and Margaret Makafee.

For the Academy,

Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris"

(SCA, Inc., 1997).

[2] Albert Dauzat, "Dictionnaire Etymologique des noms de Familles et des

prenoms de France" (Libraire Larousse, Paris, 1987).

[3] Luana de Grood, "Flemish Names from Bruges" (Academy of Saint Gabriel,

1996).