ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2284 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2284 ************************************ 29 Apr 2001 From: Judith Phillips Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us whether is an appropriate pre-1600 Carelian Finnish name. ( represents a-umlaut.) Here is the information we found. Most of the extant Carelian records are from the 16th century and later, and even in Western Finland there are few records before about 1300. Since Christianity introduced a new set of given names, similar to those used in other Christian cultures, the given names found in Finnish documents are very similar to those found in Sweden. Most bynames, however, were in Finnish and appeared untranslated in documents. Unfortunately, the given name is modern in origin; it was first noted in the late 1920's, as part of a song derived from a poem published in 1898 [1]. We have no evidence that it was used in period. We have relatively few sources for period Finnish names. We do have a list of feminine given names from documents from southern Finnish Carelia, dated 1541-1570 [2]. You might wish to consider using one of these. The names are listed by the standard modern form followed by historical examples of full names: Birgitta: Biritt ionsdott' Erika / Eerika / Eerikka: Eericka Susi Elin / Ellin / Elina: Elin ellin ionsdott Ella: Brygska ella ella Jonsdott' Gertrud / Kerttu: Bagska Gertrud Gerdrutt Baggska Hellin (possibly another variant of Elin): hellin Katrin / Kadrin / Katariina: Kadrin Staffansdott' Kirstin / Kristin / Kristiina: Kirstin staffansdotter Lempi: Lempi kockon Madelin: Madelin ionsdotter Margaret / Margit: marg'tt monsdott Margrt ansdott Olexia: Olexia kopaijne Sirkka: Sirka Staffa~ Valborg: valbor (The apostrophe indicates that the scribe left out some letters. For example, was almost certainly .) Of these, , , and are not found as Swedish names and appear to be uniquely Finnish, while is a typically Finnish spelling of Swedish . If you want a distinctly Finnish name, we suggest one of these. However, these names are all much less common in Finnish documents from your period than are the names that also appear in Swedish sources. is a Finnish byname that appeared in several coastal regions, especially Carelia and in the north along the Gulf of Bothnia. We found two examples from the early 17th century: from 1642 and from 1637 [2, 3]. The earliest documents from this area date from the late 16th century onwards, so we don't know how early the name was actually used. is derived from , "sea", and meant something like "inhabitant of/by the sea". It appears to have been either an occupational byname used by fishermen or a locative derived from a house named . In either case, we think it reasonable to assume that it was used before 1600 as well. I hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please feel free to contact us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have any further questions. I was assisted in writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Pietari Uv, Lindorm Eriksson, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Adeliza de Saviniaco 29 April 2001 -------------------------------------- References: [1] Vilkuna, Kustaa, Marketta Huitu, Pirjo Mikkonen, and Sirkka Paikkala. _Suomalainen nimikirja_. Otava, Keuruu 1984. s.n. Ritva. [2] Pietari Uv, unpublished research from the documentary names collection in the onomastic archive of the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland, document volumes 4994-5348. [3] Pirjo Mikkonen -- Sirkka Paikkala 2000: "Sukunimet" ("Family Names"), revised edition. Otava, Keuruu. s.n. _Merila"inen_.