ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 822 http://www.s-gabriel.org/822 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* From: 14 Apr 1998 Greetings, Here's the information we found on the name "Maja Reichenberg," which you said you wanted to honor your aunt. We found a Danish name "Maye" (dated to 1334) which is also spelled "Maya" (c. 1500) and "Maje" (c. 1300-1500). (1) Another source says that "Maja" has been used in Swedish since the 14th century, (2) and we are fairly sure that these spellings could also be used in Swedish. Although the spelling is not exactly what you're looking for, the pronunciation is the same--in fact, we suspect that the spellings we found are older renderings of your aunt's name. You mentioned that "Reichenberg" was German. It is reasonable for a Danish person to have a name based on a German place. However, the spelling rules for Danish and German are not the same, and the German would probably have been written or in Danish. If you'd like your entire name to be Danish, you could use the Danish placename "Risenberg," which we found in several variant spellings: (3) * Rysenberch, 1441 * Risenberch, 1497 * Risenberg, 1481-94 * Resenberg, 1505 "Maja Richenberg," (pronounced \MY-ah REI-ken-bairkh\) with any of the variant spellings we found, is a plausible Danish name from the 15th or 16th centuries. Lindorm Eriksson, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, and AElfwyn aet Gyrwum contributed to this letter. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. In service, Alan Fairfax Academy of S. Gabriel (1) Knudsen Gunnar, Marius Kristiansen, & Rikard Hornby, _Danmarks Gamle Personnavne_, Vol. I: Fornavne (Copenhagen: 1936-48). (2) Malmsten, A: _Svenska namnboken_, Bokforlaget Rabeen Prisma (Stockholm 1996) (3) DGP, v. II