ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1694 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1694 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 30 Apr 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the name which you found in a family history as a masculine name from 11th century Cornwall. You also asked if there is a French form of or . This letter is a brief answer to your question. We found no evidence that was a British first name, but we think we did find the name that appeared in your family tree. There were several men surnamed who accompanied William the Conqueror. They held lands in several parts of England, perhaps including Cornwall. Thus, may be a branch of that family. The surname was derived from a place in Normandy, later called or . The placename was pronounced roughly like the modern word , and indeed the name was spelled that way in the 13th century: , and [1, 2, 3]. \TOW-en\ would not be a correct pronunciation. If you choose a Norman given name, then would be a very appropriate surname to go with it in an 11th century English name. You can find a list of appropriate first names on the web: A Statistical Survey of Given Names in Essex Co., England, 1182-1272 http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5145/names.html If you take this approach, you might want to consider using a variant of the de Tony arms. In the 13th century, the head of the family bore "Argent, a maunch gules". If you change the colors of this design, you'd have arms that a lesser member of the family might have used. If using as your first name is more important to you than having an English name, then you might consider a Dutch name. is a 14th century Dutch nickname for [4]. It was pronounced similar to \TO:N\, where \O:\ represents the sound of the German o-umlaut or of the first vowel is the French [5]. If you'd like help constructing an authentic Dutch name, please write us again. We found no first name that could have been pronounced \TOW-en\. We do not recognize or as French names. Do you perhaps mean , a French form of ? If you tell us where you found this name, we may be able to discover more about it. We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Modar Neznanich. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 30 Apr 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Schulze, Lorine McGinnis, "1066 List of Knights" (WWW: Olive Tree Enterprises, 1998). http://www.rootsweb.com/~ote/knight.htm [2] Brault, Gerald J., _The Rolls of Arms of Edward I_, Aspilogia III, 2 vols. (London: Boydell Press, 1997). [3] Wagner, Anthony Richard, ed. Aspilogia II: Rolls of Arms: Henry III (London: The Society of Antiquaries, 1967), pp.24-5. [4] Debrabandere, F., _Kortrijkse Naamkunde 1200-1300, met een kumulatief familienamenregister_, Anthrophonymica XXII (Leuven : Instituut voor Naamkunde : Peeters, 1980). [5] Van der Schaar, J., _Woordenboek van Voornamen: inventarisatie van de doop- en roepnamen met hunetymologie_ (Utrecht & Antwerpen: Aula-Boeken, 1967). is a relatively rare spelling of this nickname, found mostly in Limburg. Elsewhere, it is spelled , , , , , etc. The spelling in most versions of the name implies the pronunciation we've suggested. ----------- Annotation by Aryanhwy, 03 May 2007: Removed the statement that is a late-period form.