Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 684

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 684

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/684

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 suggestions for a 14th century Scottish name, possibly using the given name <Gaudifer>. Here is what we have found.

As you noted, <Gaudifer> is listed in Symon Ffraser's article on names from "The Bruce". We double-checked the original source, and we've discovered that <Gaudifer> was not actually the name of a historical person. It was the name of a character in a romance, who was mentioned in "The Bruce" as an archetype of chivalric courage [1]. In other words, you tripped over an error in the article. It has been corrected, but I'm afraid that doesn't help you: Since we have found no other evidence that <Gaudifer> was a personal name, we have to advise you not to use it.

The Latin word <gaudifer> means "bringer of joy". It is possible that this word could be used as a descriptive byname, but we have found no evidence to support that possibility. Without some evidence that such bynames were used in 14th century Scotland, we can't recommend it.

The names in "The Bruce" are mostly Scots names rather than Gaelic names, so we're assuming that you are interested in a 14th century Scots persona yourself. Scots was the language of the Scottish Lowlands; it was closely related to English. If our assumption is incorrect, please write us again for more information.

Scots names were very similar to contemporary English names. Your name should include a single given name and one or more bynames which were usually locative (identifying a place, like <of Keyth>) or patronymic (identifying your father, like <Tomasswn>) [2]. The list of names from "The Bruce" is a pretty good sample of names in your period from the chivalric class that most Society-folk re-create. If you were to choose a name that followed the patterns demonstrated there, you'll be doing quite well. You should avoid a byname like <the Persy>. That construction nearly always means "head of the Persy family", and implies fairly high rank.

We can suggest a few given names which sound similar to <Gaudifer>. In the following list, the forms in <...> are spellings appropriate to your period [3].

Godfrey: <Gosfrid>, <Gaudfrid> 13th century Godric: <Gothrik>, <Gotrich> 1296
Goddard: <Godardus> 1262, <Godarde> 1320

We can't find any names ending <-fer>, but there are some which end <-bert> [2, 3]:

Gilbert: <Gilbert> 1329, 1375
Robert: <Robert> 1375

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 Zenobia Naphtali, Tangwystyl vz. Morgant Glasvryn, Talan Gwynek, and Effric neyn Kenneoch.

For the Academy,

Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] Barbour, John. 1375. The Bruce, ed. A. A. M. Duncan, ed. (Edinburgh:

Canongate Classics, 1997).

[2] Symon Freser of Lovat, "13th & 14th Century Scottish Names" (WWW: J.

Mittleman, 1996, <http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/scottish14/>).

[3] Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and

History, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986).