ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 982
http://www.s-gabriel.org/982
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* NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports     *
*       contain errors that we haven't yet      *
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From: 
11 Jun 1998


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked us about the feminine name <Deborah> in period.

The name came into popular use by Protestants of the 17th century [1,2],
and its root word <Devora> can be documented to period usage by Jewesses
[3].  In period, Christians (most Europeans) generally did not use Old
Testament names, except for those few names that had significant
associations with Christian theology (e.g. Jesse, David, Adam, Eve, etc.). 
Most Old Testament names did not come into use among Christians in Europe
until after our period, though the Puritans in England started using them
at the very end of period.  <Deborah> appears to be a name in this
category, and you should avoid it unless you want a Jewish or late-16th
century persona.

Should you decide not to use the name <Deborah>, you may instead wish to
browse through some of our on-line articles on period women's names for
ideas.  The Academy library has many such articles: 

  http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/

In particular, we have good lists for England, France, Germany, Hungary,
Ireland, Italy, the Low Countries, Russia, Scandinavia, Scotland, Spain,
and Wales.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.

Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael Caermyrdin, Pedro de Alcazar, Elisabeth de
Rossignol, Teceangl Bach, Evan da Collaureo, and Arval Benicouer
contributed to this letter. 

In service,
--Walraven van Nijmegen
Academy of S. Gabriel

[1] E.G. Withycombe, _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_ 
    3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988)

[2] Emidio De Felice, _Dizionario dei Nomi_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editori, 
    Milan, 1992)

[3] Jaelle of Armida documented a previous submission of this name:
    "I note that in the book of Genesis, Devora is the name of
    Rebecca's nurse, and I think we're all familiar with the Devora
    in Judges, the prophetess. I found evidence for the use of Devora
    in Simon Seror's Les Noms des Juifs de France au Moyen Age
    (Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1989),
    on page 80, under Daburah. The name was seen only once, in a
    document written in the Provencal speaking area in 1430."