ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 881 http://www.s-gabriel.org/881 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* 14 Apr 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the name and whether it might be used as a 12th or 13th century German or French name. Here is what we have found. Unfortunately, we can find no evidence that was used as a personal name at any time in medieval or renaissance Europe. appears in Genesis 25:1. Very few Old Testament names were used by Christians in period; the ones that were used were those that had strong Christian significance (e.g. Eve, Jesse, David). The fashion of using Old Testament names arose among Christians in late 16th century England, but did not become generally popular until well after our period. Jews and Muslims used a larger selection of Old Testament names, but we cannot find any evidence that these groups used either. You are correct that the name has been registered twice by the College of Arms, but that doesn't mean that the name was used in period: The College of Arms accepts biblical usage as sufficient support for a submission. If you want to have a name that is historically appropriate to some period culture, then we recommend that you not use . We also looked for a period French or German name that sound similar to , but we could not find anything close enough to be worth mentioning. You can find lists of period French and German names on the web at: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/ Perhaps you can find a name there that you like. 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. We were assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek and AElfwyn aet Gyrwum. For the Academy, Naitan de Yerdeburc and Arval Benicoeur - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -