Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 852

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 852

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/852

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 ask about 12th century English forms of the given name <Michael> and the surname <Gregory>. Here's what we found.

The given name <Michael> becomes popular in England during the 12th century. We found the following forms in the 12th and early 13th <Michel> sometime between 1182 and 1272. [1, 2, 3]

<Gregory> was used as a given name in your period; like all given names, it could be used as a patronymic byname. A patronymic byname indicates the name of the bearer's father. In time, such bynames became inherited surnames, but this was not yet the case in 12th century England. We did find the following forms of the name: <Willelmus filius Gregorii> in 1143, <Gregorius> 1150, <Gregory> sometime between 1182 and 1272. [2, 3] The first two
forms are Latin forms of the name. The first translates to "William son of Gregory"; the second is probably a given name form.

The name <Michael Gregory> is a typical 12th century English name meaning "Michael, son of Gregory". The written form in the 12th century would be in Latin; the appropriate 12th century Latin form of your name is <Michaelis filius Gregorii>.

We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. Arval d'Espas Nord and Talan Gwynek aided in researching and writing this letter.

In Service,
Margaret Makafee


[1] Reaney, P.H. and R.M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames, 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995

[2] Withycombe, E.G. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 1976

[3] Nicolaa de Bracton. "A Statistical Survey of Given Names in Essex Co., England, 1182 - 1272". (WWW. Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997)