Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 699

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/699

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 St. Gabriel.

You asked us for information on "Genevie\ve Beauchamp" as a 15th or 16th century French name. Here's what we've found.

<Genevie\ve> is a common name in France in our period, and the pet form <Genevote> (pronounced \JENN-a-vo-ta\ , where the <o> is like the one in German <von> or French <homme> ) appears in the 1292 Paris census. [1, 2] The back-slash stands for an accent grave over the previous vowel. However, the accent grave is probably a modern editorial addition, since there is evidence that it was not used in period.[4]

<Beauchamp>, with its northern variant <Beaucamp>, is a common surname in our period. [1, 3]

Either <Genevieve Beauchamp> or <Genevieve de Beauchamp> would be a fine late-period French name.

If we may be of any further assistance, please be sure to ask.

Arval d'Espas Nord and Talan Gwynek contributed the research for this letter.

For the Academy of St. Gabriel

Naitan de Yerdeburc

[1] Dauzat, Albert, Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987

[2] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris", (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997).

[3] Morlet, Marie-Therese, Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille (Librairie Académique Perrin, 1997)

[4] Pope, M.K., _From Latin to Modern French_ (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1966).