ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1960 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1960 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 14 Feb 2000 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if the French epithet was used in the 15th century, and wondered what it meant. You also wanted to know how common hyphenated names were in the 15th century, and if might be appropriate. Here is a brief letter with the information we have found. For reference, the past report that we sent you is available on-line at: http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi?1889 In the 15th century, would most likely have been spelled or . [2] It is a diminutive form of a byname meaning "the beautiful," and probably could have had the connotation of "small beautiful woman." It's a fine choice for your byname. In northern France in your period, we believe hyphenated names were very rare; we recommend that you choose one name, and use it alone. is a fine choice for this purpose. [3] The name and its variants were not found outside the Iberian peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal) until the late 16th century, when it spread in the wake of the veneration of Saint Teresa of Avila. [1] We therefore recommend that you not use it. 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 Alan Fairfax, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 14Feb00 --------------------------------------- References: [1] AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, _Concerning the Names Teresa, Theresa, Tracy, and Treasa_ (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999) http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/problemnames/teresa.html [2] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Etude d'anthroponymie picarde, les noms de personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIe, XIVe, XVe siecles_ (Amiens, Musee de Picardie, 1967). pp.184-190 lists the following similar 15th century bynames: , , , , , , . [3] 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].