ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 876 http://www.s-gabriel.org/876 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* From: 29 Mar 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us about the name as a Spanish, preferably Catalan, name between 1250 and 1600. You also asked about other possible feminine names beginning with 'G', and asked for suggestions for an appropriate byname. While we did not find in our sources, we found several close spellings [1,2]: 12-13th century 12-13th century 10-12th Our sources say that names of Frankish origin, such as this one, grew in popularity in the 12th and 13th centuries [2], and this probably continued for at least sometime afterward. The ending '-ina' is a very common Romance diminutive suffix, and was certainly used in late-period Spanish names. We have examples such as , , and [3]. The last of those is a diminutive, and so provides justification for converting the forms we found (above) into the following diminutives: thus seems a plausible variant of . Choice of an appropriate byname depends partly on the precise period in which the name was used. In the early 13th century, a woman might not have used a byname at all, while a woman living in the late 16th century might have had a rather complex combination of name elements. Perhaps the best choice would be a patronymic byname (ie. one based on your father's name); this would be appropriate for most of your period. Examples of this are or , meaning "Guillermina, daughter of Sancio" or "Guillermina, daughter of Raimundo". We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Arval Benicouer, Talan Gwynek, and AElfwyn aet Gywrum contributed to this letter. In service, --Walraven van Nijmegen Academy of S. Gabriel [1] Arval Benicoeur, _Catalan Names from 12th and 13th Century Charters_ (WWW, 1997) http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/catalan/ [2] Llui/s To Figuera, "Antroponimia de los Condados Catalones (Barcelona, Girona, y Osona, siglos X-XII)", pp.371-394 in Pascula Marti/nez Sopena, _Antroponimia y Sociedad_: Sistemas de identificacio/n hispano-cristianos en los siglos IX a XIII_ (Valladolid, Spain: Universiade de Santiago de Compostela and Universidad de Valladolid, 1995). [3] Elsbeth Anne Roth, _16th-century Spanish Women's Names_ (WWW) http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~kvs/fnames.html