ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 961 http://www.s-gabriel.org/961 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* 4 May 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the name which you want to use as a name for an early 16th century Spanish-Moorish Gitana (Gypsy woman). Here is what we have found. Before I start, I'd like to clarify the service that the Academy offers. We try to help Societyfolk in choosing and using names that fit the historical cultures they are trying to re-create. Our research can sometimes be used to support submissions to the College of Arms, but that is not our goal and our results are often incompatible with the College's needs. If your main goal is to register a particular name, then we may not be able to help you. is a modern Arabic woman's name [1, 2, 3, 4], but we didn't find evidence that it was used in period. Records of period Arabic women's names are scarse, so we cannot say for certain that it wasn't used, but we would not recommend it. The variants or are particularly unlikely to have been used in period: The <-a> ending is redundant, since itself is already feminine. If you want to consider some period Arabic names, you can find a list on our website: A List of Arabic Women's Names http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/arabicwomen.html is a Spanish and Portuguese surname derived from a place name. We found one example in 1584, [6]. Place names were most often used in this manner, preceded by the preposition "of", so we recommend rather than just . Not much is known about period Gypsy naming. From your letter, it sounds as if you may have a source that we don't know about. If so, we'd be very interested to learn more. We are always trying to expand our libary so that we can help more people. Our best information about Gitano (Spanish Gypsy) naming is that they had at least two names: a private name in their own language, used only within their community, and a public name in the local language. We have been able to learn nothing at all about the private names, but the public names seem to follow prevailing Spanish naming practices. So our best advice for you is that if you want an early 16th century Gitana name, you should choose a typical Spanish name for that period. You can find some information about late-period Spanish women's names on the web. There is a list of women's names at 16th Century Spanish Women's Names http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~kvs/fnames.html and some examples of complete men's names at The Olive Tree Genealogy: Miscellaneous Ships' Passenger Lists http://www.rootsweb.com/~ote/magship.htm If you want to learn more about the Gypsies in period, you can find some information and some book suggestions at Stefan's Florilegium: Gyspy Culture http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/rialto/Gypsies-msg.html We have no evidence that mixed Arabic/Spanish names were used in your period nor that Christians adopted any of the Moorish namestock. Lacking evidence that was used by Christians in your period, we conclude that it is extremely unlikely that anyone living in Spain in the 1500s would have used it. The Moors were expelled from Spain in 1502 after three hundred years of religious crusade and all remaining Muslims were forced to convert. Thereafter, the church was ruthless in rooting out the secret practice of any religion other than Christianity [5]. Giving a child an Arabic name would have been like waving a red flag at the Inquisition. On top of the religious problem, the Gitano themselves were persecuted in Spain. They are recorded in Spain in 1447 and the first anti-Gypsy laws were passed in 1492. By 1499, they were threatened with beatings, prison, banishment, and slavery for practicing their customary life-style [7]. It may therefore be unlikely that a child in your period would have been given a name that suggested a Gypsy heritage. I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, Raphael van Antwerpen, Pedro de Alcazar, and Da'ud ibn Auda. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 20 Apr 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Schimmel, Annemarie, _Islamic Names_ (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989), p.44. [2] al-Ja'fari, Fatima Suzan, "Muslim Names" (Lagos, Nigeria: Islamic Publications Bureau, 1977, 1982), p. 24. [3] Hamid, Azieza, _The Book of Muslim Names_ (London: MELS, 1985), p.21. [4] M.A. Qazi, _What's in a Muslim Name_ (Lahore: Kazi Publications, 1978; South Elgin, IL: Library of Islam, 1995), p.53. [5] O'Callaghan, Joseph F., _A History of Medieval Spain_ (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1975). [6] "Miguel de Cervantes" Britannica Online. [Accessed 20 April 1998]. http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=macro/5001/16.html [7] "Timeline of Romani (Gypsy) History", The Patrin Journal. [Accessed 20 April 1998] http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/timeline.htm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -