ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 997 http://www.s-gabriel.org/997 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* From: 14 Jun 1998 Greetings, You said you were looking for a woman's name from the time period when Eleanor of Aquitaine was married to King Louis VII of France (1137-1152). Although you didn't specify, we assume that you're looking for a French name. We don't have name lists from exactly that period, but we do have a number of suggestions. >From a list of women's names from southern France around 1240 we have * Aicelina * Andreva * Audiarda * Austorga * Bonassias * Brunissende * Ermengarda * Ermessenda * Esquiva * Petrona * Rixenda * Rubea * Willelma >From another collection of 13th-century women's names we have (2) * Marie * Isabelle * Blanche * Marguerite * Agnes The names in this second list are modern forms, but if you're interested in one or more of them we could find the medieval forms. In addition, you could look at the Web page "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris" at http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html This has a large list of names. The majority are men's names, but there is a large selection of women's names as well. In your period, women were probably known in most circumstances by their first names alone. If a second name was needed to describe them, it was generally based on the name of their father (, meaning "X's daughter") or their husband (, meaning "X's wife"). Noble women may occassionally been identified by the location of their home (, meaning "from X"). Names in your period were generally recorded in Latin. For information on putting your name into a Latin form, check the Web page http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5145/latin.html Arval Benicoeur, Walraven van Nijmege, and Aryanhwy Prytydes verch Catmael Caermyrdin contributed to this letter. We hope this is helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. In service, Alan Fairfax Academy of S. Gabriel (1) Elliot, Triste. "Names from Thirteenth Century Languedoc." (WWW, accessed 5/28/98) http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/cateline/languedoc.html (2) Mittleman, Josh. "French Names from Two Thirteenth Century Chronicles." (WWW, accessed 5/28/98) http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/crusades.html