Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 688

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 688

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/688

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 information about the name <Megwen>. Here is what we have found.

We have no evidence that anyone ever used <Megwen> as a name in our period.

We can construct two hypotheses that support its possible existence in pre-Conquest England and 15th or 16th century Wales, but those are only possibilities, not actual documentation. It would be better re-creation for you to use a name that we know was actually use in period. Since you want to set your persona in late-period Scotland, neither of these hypotheses is relevent: The early English name could not have continued to exist as late as the 14th century, and the Welsh name would not have been used in Scotland.

We can offer one interesting possibility that might appeal to you. <Meg> is recorded as a woman's given name in Scotland in 1408 [1]. <Wen> or <Wenn> was used as a byname and surname in England from the 14th century onward [2]. Putting them together, the name <Meg Wen> is appropriate for the Scottish Lowlands in the last centuries of our period.

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 Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasfryn.

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] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames

(London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995).