ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1781 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1781 ************************************ 2 Nov 1999 From: Alan Terlep Greetings, Here's the information we found out about the name , which you wanted to use as a French name from around 1600. Your name is almost perfect for your period; we recommend only minor changes in spelling, to . We know that was used in 16th-century France and spelled just as it is today. (1) Our only example of the spelling comes from 1292 (2). Since that spelling is used today, it's reasonable to assume that it was also used in the 1500s. You may be interested to know that the alternate spelling appears to have been fairly common in your period. (3, 4) Double given names were rare in 16th-century France, but they were used. The use of a hyphen to connect the two names is a post-period development, and so we recommend that you use or . We found a number of modern surnames that derive from the Old French word , and we think it is likely that several forms existed at least at the end of our period. (5) However, the was not dropped from until after our period. (6) Also, while was almost certainly used as a surname in France around 1600, it would have been inherited just as family names are today. A man with the last name of in 16th-century France wasn't any more likely to be illegitimate than anyone else. Juliana de Luna, Margaret Makafee, Arval Benicoeur, and Talan Gwynek contributed to this letter. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Your servant, Alan Fairfax Academy of S. Gabriel October 30, 1999 (1) Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.n. Luc (2) Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris", Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium 1996 (SCA: Montgomery, Alabama; WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997) [URL:http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html]. (3) de Grood, Luana. "Flemish Given Names from Bruges, 1400-1600", (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). Accessed October 7, 1999. [URL:http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/bruges/]. (4) Elliot, Triste. "Sixteenth Century Norman Names." (WWW: Josh Mittleman, 1998). Accessed November 2, 1999. (5) Dauzat, s.n. Bastard. (6) Pope, M.K. From Latin to Modern French (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1966); pp. 151-2.