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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked for information about 14th century Scottish names, possibly using <Julian> or <Gwen> as the given name. Here is what we have found.
In your period, Scotland encompassed two languages and cultures: The Highlands, where people generally spoken Gaelic; and the Lowlands, where people generally spoke Scots. Scots is a language very similar to contemporary English. Naming practices in the two languages were quite different and they did not mix.
<Julian> is a Scots name, used by both men and women. It is recorded as a woman's name in 1288 [1]. In neighboring England, <Julian> was common for both men and women from the 12th to 15th centuries.
<Gwen> is a Welsh name, in use at least from the 12th century onward [3, 4]. It is very unlikely that <Gwen> was used in Scotland in our period. There is no evidence that its use spread into England, which would be expected to have happened before it could have reached Scotland [2].
Therefore, we recommend that you choose <Julian> as your given name.
A complete Scots name of your period would have looked a great deal like a contemporary English name. You would most likely have been identified as your father's daughter, as husband's wife, or by the place where you lived. You might also have been known by your profession or by some personal descriptive nickname. Here are a few examples. If your name had been written down, it would almost always have been written in Latin; so we have include Latin equivalents for each example.
Julian de Graydene
<Graydene> is a place in Berwickshire, in a spelling recorded 1296 [1 s.n. Grayden]. A Latin version of this name is <Juliana de Graydene>; place names were often not modifed when written in Latin.
Julian Hucheon
<Hucheon> is a Scots man's given name, related to <Hugh> [1 s.n. Hutcheon]. This name means "Julian, daughter of Hucheon". In Latin, the same name would have been: <Juliana filia Hugonis>.
Julian dictus Brouster
<Brouster> is a Scots form of <brewster> "brewer, originally a female brewer", recorded in 1382 [1, s.n. Brewster]. The word <dictus> means "called"; it could be dropped, but it is present in the original example. In Latin, the same name could have been <Juliana braciatrix>.
Julian Brouster ye wif of Jone Blak
Jone Hucheonis spous
<Jone> is recorded in 1375 as a Scots form of <John> [1 s.n. Johnson], and <Blak> in 1376 as a form of <Black> [1 s.n. Black]. This spelling of "wife" is recorded in 1501 [6]; <ye> is a spelling of <the>, pronounced \the\; and <spous> is a Scots form of <spouse>. These two examples illustrate two common 16th century ways of identifying a woman as her husband's wife in Scots; it was quite common, as in the second example, for a woman to be identified in civic documents _only_ as her husband's wife, without any mention of her own name [6]. In Latin, the same ideas could have been expressed as <Julianna braciatrix uxor Johannis Blak> or <uxor Johannis Hugonis> [1 s.n. Black, 5].
There are many more possibilites, of course; I've only tried to illustrate some of the common patterns. If you have some specific byname that you'd like to use, let us know and we'll help you match it to your persona.
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 Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Talan Gwynek, and Effric neyn Kenyeoch.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and
History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986).
[2] Withycombe, E.G., The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 3rd
ed. (Oxford University Press).
[3] Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "A Simple Guide to Constructing 13th
Century Welsh Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/welsh13.html
[4] Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "A Simple Guide to Constructing 16th
Century Welsh Names (in English Contexts)" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/welsh16.html
[5] Dickinson, William Croft, ed., _Early Records of the Burgh of Aberdeen:
1317, 1398-1407_, vol. XLIX, _Publications of The Scottish History Society_ (Edinburgh: The Scottish History Society, Third Series, 1957).
[6] MS Aberdeen Council Registers, volume 8-14, 1501-1535, in the Aberdeen
City Archives.