ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1315 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1315 ************************************ From: "Scott D Friedemann" 3 Nov 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if the English masculine name would have been used between 1200 and 1500. Here is the information we have found. was a common English name throughout period. Other spellings that we found are 1279, 1279, 13th century and 1439. [1] Any of these would be an excellent choice for your period. In English the preposition is only used with place names: would mean "from a place called Winter." The English surname derives from a given name or possibly from a nickname, and is found as early as 1185 [2]. We also find in the early 15th century. [3] is a fine English surname for your period, but in not correct in English. In Dutch, on the other hand, the word means "the," and we found several examples of the Dutch epithet "the Winter." We find between 1250 and 1400 in the Low Countries [4], and in 1514 in Bruges. [5] If you want to be English, would be a fine name. If you particularly want to call yourself , then we recommend you consider a persona from the Low Countries. Dutch forms of that we found are , , , and the diminutive (nickname) . These were common Dutch names throughout your period. [4,6] would be an excellent Dutch name. We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen, Margaret Makafee, and Blaise de Cormeilles. For the Academy, --Aryanhwy merch Catmael Caermyrdin November 3, 1998 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). [2] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995)., s.n. Winter [3] --, "The Agincourt Honor Rolls", _Family Chronicle_ (WWW: Family Chronicle, 1997) http://www.familychronicle.com/agincort.htm [4] Beele, Wilfried, _Studie van de Ieperse Persoonsnamen uit de Stads- en Baljuwsrekeningen 1250-1400_ (Handzame, 1975)., entry 3038, p. 80 [5] Luana de Grood, "Flemish Given Names from Bruges, 1400-1600", (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996) . http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/bruges/ [6] Debrabandere, F., _Kortrijkse Naamkunde 1200-1300, met een kumulatief familienamenregister_, Anthrophonymica XXII (Leuven : Instituut voor Naamkunde : Peeters, 1980). p 20