ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 895
http://www.s-gabriel.org/895
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* NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports     *
*       contain errors that we haven't yet      *
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From: "S Friedemann" 
14 Apr 1998

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked about the feminine name <Cecily Saint-Claire> and wanted to know
if it would be an authentic English name between 1400 and 1500.  Here is
what we have found.

While we did not find the specific spelling of <Cecily> in your period, we
found both <Cicily> in 1413 and <Cecilie> in 1450, and <Cecily> in 1523 [1].
Therefore it is reasonable that this spelling of <Cecily> could have been
used in your period.

<Saint-Claire> is a modern French spelling of the surname, which is found in
different spellings in England in your period.  For the best re-creation,
you should choose one of the period spellings, such as <Senclere>,
<Seneclere>, and <Sein Cler> in the 15th century, and <St. Clere> and
<Sencler> in the early 16th century [2, 3].

Other variations that we found are, <Seyntclere> 1405, <Santoclair> 1407,
<Synclere> 1470, <Seintclere> 1445, <Singular> 1450, <Singlar> 1454,
<Synclare> 1482, <Singkler> 1491, and <Sanclar> 1493. [4]  However, these
names were not English, but Scots, a language closely related to the English
of your period.

We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not
hesitate to write if any part was unclear, or if you have further questions.
Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur,
Lindorm Eriksson, Margaret Makafee, and Talan Gwynek.

For the Academy,
Arianwy ferch Cadfael

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References:

[1] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English
Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997)
URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/reaney/.

[2] Chesshyre, Hubert & Woodcock, Thomas.  Dictionary of British Arms:
Medieval Ordinary, vol. I (London: The Society of Antiquaries of
London, 1992).

[3] Woodcock, Thomas, Janet Grant, & Ian Graham.  Dictionary of British
Arms: Medieval Ordinary, vol. II (London: The Society of Antiquaries
of London, 1996).

[4] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and
History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986).