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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked for information on the use of the name <Sabine> in the 13th century, and on the names <Thamar> and <Dukaina>. Here is what we have found.
<Sabine> is a French or English form of the Latin cognomen <Sabina>. The name derives ultimately from a Latin <Sabinus> which meant "a Sabine". The Sabines were an ancient people who lived in Italy. The name was transmitted to the Middle Ages via a 4th century bishop St. Sabinus and a martyr St. Sabina [1]. The name was used in many parts of Europe. In England, it was used from the 12th century in the forms <Sabin> and <Sabyn> [1]. In France, it was used as early as the 8th century as <Savina>, and occasionally to the end of our period as <Sabine> [2, 3]. It Italy, it remained in used to the present day [4]. In the Low Countries, it was recorded in the 13th century as <Sabina> [5]. We haven't found other examples, but we'd be surprised if it were not also used in Iberia and the Germanies. The standard Latin form <Sabina> is plausible in almost any part of Western Europe in your period.
We could find no period example of <Thamar> or <Dukaina>. One source tells us that <Thamar> is an alternate spelling of <Tamar>, which is an Old Testament name [6]. It does not appear to have been used in period; most Old Testament names were not used by Christians until the late 16th century. <Dukaina> might be related to the Byzantine family name <Doukas>, which would normally be feminized as <Doukina>. <Theodora Doukina> would be a fine name for a Byzantine woman from the 11th to early 15th centuries [7].
The best information we have on period Byzantine names can be found on the web at
http://sdcc8.ucsd.edu/~rinman/byz_names/introduction.html
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.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] E.G. Withycombe, The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 3rd
ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988).
[2] Morlet, Marie-Therese, Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de
l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Siecle, v.II (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1972)
[3] Albert Dauzat, Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et
Prenoms de France (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987).
[4] Emidio De Felice, Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani (Arnoldo Mondadori
Editore, 1978)
[5] F. Debrabandere, "Kortrijkse Naamkunde 1200-1300, met een kumulatief
familienamenregister".
[6] Leslie Dunkling and William Gosling, The New American Dictionary of
First Names (Signet Books, 1983).
[7] Bardas Xiphias, Personal Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire
During the Later Byzantine Era (WWW: Privately published, 1997).