ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 998
http://www.s-gabriel.org/998
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* NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports     *
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From: 
11 Jun 1998

Greetings,

Here's the information on the name you asked about.  You said you
wanted a Scottish Gaelic name for a woman living in England in the
16th century, and listed "Joanna," "Elspeth," and "Katharyn" as names
you wanted.

Although you said you wanted a Scottish Gaelic name, the names you
listed are actually Scots (Scots is closely related to English, and
was spoken in towns and in Lowland Scotland in your period).  Since
people from urban and Lowland areas were much more likely to migrate
to England than rural Highlanders, it is more likely that your persona
would have a Scots name rather than a Scottish Gaelic one.  In addition, 
the names you would like to use are more similar to Scots names than
Scottish Gaelic ones.  Therefore, even though you said you were
looking for a Scottish Gaelic name, we've suggested names in Scots.

We didn't find the name "Joanna" in Scots during your period.  The
closest we came was <Jeanna>, which was probably pronounced \JENN-a\.
Another possibility is <Jonet>, which we found in a variety of
different spellings in your period. (1)

* Jonet
* Johnnett
* Jonete
* Jonette

<Jonet> and <Joanna> are actually related names, since they both
ultimately derive from the male name <John>.

We found the name <Elspeth> dated to 1548, and also found <Elspet>
dated to 1512. (1)

We found many spellings of <Katherine>, including (1)

* Katheryne
* Kathrine
* Katrina
* Katryne

and also (2)

* Katherine (the most common)
* Catering
* Catherine
* Katerin
* Katering
* Katherin
* Katring
* Katte

There are two common kinds of last names for Scots women.  The first
is the father's name--so that Jeanna, Roger's daughter, would be
<Jeanna Roger>.  The second is the place she's from--so that Jeanna
from Aberdeen would be <Jeanna de Aberdeen>.  You could use pretty
much any Scots man's name or any Lowlands placename for a last name.

Talan Gwynek, Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte, Arval Benicoeur, and
Rouland Carre contributed to this letter.

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

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel

(1) Talan Gwynek, "A List of Feminine Personal Names Found in Scottish
Records," part 3, under "Jean," "Joan," "Elizabeth," "Katherine."
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/scottishfem/scottishfemlate.html

(2) Krossa, Sharon, "Early 16th Century Scottish Town Women's Names."
http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/acr_1501_womens_names.html