ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2360 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2360 ************************************ 25 Sep 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether or is an appropriate name for a 16th century German woman. This letter is a brief answer to your question. I'm afraid we could find no feminine form of that was used in late-period German. The modern name was coined in the 18th century as [1]. We did find a couple instances of feminine forms earlier in period -- , wife of the knight Wilhelm de Turre c.1184, and , a nun at Fraubrunnen in 1280 [2] -- but neither name seems to have remained in use into the 16th century. We have a list of some late-period German women's names on the web: 15th-Century German Women's Names http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/german15f.html If that list doesn't include anything that appeals to you, we may be able to provide you some more choices, particularly if you can tell us what sort of name you're looking for. For example, we might be able to provide a short list of names beginning with 'W'. 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 Maridonna Benvenuto, Talan Gwynek, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 25 Sep 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Bahlow, Hans, _Unsere Vornamen im Wandel der Jahrhunderte_, Vol. 4 in the series _Grundriss der Genealogie_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn: C. A. Starke Verlag, 1965), s.n. Wilhelmine. [2] Socin, Adolf, _Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch. Nach oberrheinischen Quellen des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts_ (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1903; Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966), p.62.