Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 614

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 614

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/614

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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked for our opinion of "Mariah Gaven of Andover" as a 14th century English name. Here is what we have found.

The name "Mariah", pronounced \mar-EYE-ah\ is a modern invention, first noted in 19th century England or America [1]. Many people in the Society have tried to document this variant of "Maria" as a period name, but no one has succeeded. "Maria" \mar-EE-ah\, on the other hand, was a common name in both England and Italy in your period [2, 3]. Other forms of "Mary" recorded in England in the 14th century include "Mary", "Marekyn", "Marion", and "Mariota" (probably "Mariot" in common usage). From the nickname "Malle", we also find "Malina", "Malyna", (probably "Malin" in common usage) and "Mallot" [6].

"Gaven" is an English surname which very probably existed in your period. It derived from the given name "Gawyne", and we find record of that name spelled "Gaven" in 1631 [4], as "Gavin" in 1603, and as "Gawen" in the 13th or 14th century [2]. In your period it may have meant that your father's given name was "Gaven" or it might have meant that your father's surname was "Gaven".

In the 14th century, locative bynames like "of Andover" were usually written with the French "de" rather than the English "of". In common speech, they may have used "of". The place name "Andover" may also have been spelled "Andovere" in your period [5].

In summary, we believe that "Maria Gaven de Andovere" is an appropriate written form of a woman's name from your period. In everyday speech, the same woman might have been called "Maria Gaven of Andovere".

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 Effric neyn Kenneoch and Talan Gwynek.

For the Academy,

Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] Leslie Dunkling and William Gosling, The New American Dictionary of

First Names (Signet Books, 1983).

[2] E.G. Withycombe, The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 3rd

ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988).

[3] Rhian Lyth, Italian Renaissance Women's Names (WWW: Privately

published, 1996).

[4] P. H. Reaney & R. M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames, Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 1995.

[5] Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names,

4th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991).

[6] Talan Gwynek, Feminine Given Names in 'A Dictionary of English

Surnames' (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: privately published, 1997).