ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 989 http://www.s-gabriel.org/989 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* From: "S Friedemann" 23 Jun 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You were interested in the name , which you wanted to use as a native Hungarian feminine name, and you wrote of a ban put on by the church against using non-Christian names. We have already written you on this, and this letter will hopefully answer some more of your questions. The only regulation concerning names that we found was the decision of the Council of Trent in 1563, which specified that whoever administered the baptism should be sure that the child was given a name of a Catholic saint. Parents could still give their child another name, but it must be accompanied by a saint's name. [4] However, native Hungarian women's names were already on the way out long before this, not because they were illegal, but because they simply weren't fashionable. Our sources have absolutely no examples of native Hungarian women's names in period, though, and if this is truly what you're looking for, we will be unable to help you. You asked if would be a possible name. As we have said before, we have not found used in names in any part of our period. The closest we have found is the adjective , which means "clean." It was used as a descriptive byname as early as 1450, and later as a surname. [2,3] It is pronounced \TEES-taw\ (\aw\ represents the vowel sound in .) Using with a Hungarian form of Elizabeth would be appropriate. We found the following Hugarian spellings of Elizabeth in period. [1] Eizabet Elisabeta Elisabeth Elisabetha Elizabet Elizabeta Elizabeth Elizabetha Elsebeth Elyzabeth Eorsebet Eorsebeth Eo"rsebet (the " represents a doubled-accent over the previous letter) Erse Ersebet Ersebeth Ersebett O/rsebet (the / represents an accent over the previous letter) O:rsebet (the : represents an umlaut over the previous letter) O:rsebeth We're sorry that the name you want to use does not appear to have existed in period. If you are more interested in registering that name than in choosing an authentic name, then we encourage you to contact your local herald for further help. If you would like to consider other, authentic names instead of , we will be happy to assist you. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, Arval Benicoeur, Giulietta da Venezia, Lindorm Eriksson, Talan Gwynek, Teceangl Bach, and Walraven van Nijmege. For the Academy, --Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael June 23, 1998 -------------------------------------------------- References: [1] Walraven van Nijmege, "Hunagrian Feminine Names" (WWW) http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1336/magfem.html [2] Ka/lma/n, Bela, _The World of Names: A Study in Hungarian Onomatology_ (Budapest: Akedemiai Kiado, 1978). [3] Ka/zme/r Miklo/s, "Re/gi Magyar Csala/dnevek Szo/ta/ra: XIV-XVII Sza/zad" (Budapest, 1993). [4] Encyclopedia Britannica online