ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2227 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2227 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 9 Feb 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if a French woman living in the late 16th century could have been named . You also asked for suggestions for your surname. Here is the information we have found. Northern and southern France used different languages throughout most of our period. The language in northern France, including Paris, was French, while the southern language was Occitan (also called "Langue d'Oc" and "Provencal"). The Occitan forms of names were frequently very different from the French forms. was the name of a saint who was martyred in the 3rd century; her name derives from the Latin , meaning 'star.' [1] The name was popularized in France by veneration of the saint, but we have no evidence that it was used as a French name before modern times. [2] The example of in the list of names from 14th century Foix [4] is a modern French version of the Occitan name . We have found the Occitan form in use in the 13th century [3] and some further evidence that it remained in use at least through the 15th century. [5] We can't say for certain that it was used in Provence in the late 16th century, but it's not unlikely. There are two articles in our library that have information on appropriate types of surnames from your period: "Late Period Feminine Names from the South of France" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/latefrenchfem/ The names found in this article would be appropriate for a Provencal surname. "Names Found in Commercial Documents from Bordeaux, 1470-1520" http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/bordeaux.html Bordeaux is in Aquitaine; the majority of the names found in this article are French forms, not Provencal. Note that not all of the people listed are Frenchmen. There are also examples of Spanish, Italian, and Dutch surnames recorded in this article. If you are interested in any of the surnames listed, please write us again and we can try to recommend appropriate Provencal forms. We hope that this letter has been useful, and that you will not hestitate to write again if you have any further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Adelaide de Beaumont, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 09Feb01 ------------- References: [1] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987). s.n. Estelle [2] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille_ (Librairie Acade/mique Perrin, 1997). s.n. Estelle [3] Brenon, Anne, _Le petit livre aventureux des prénoms occitans au temps du Catharisme_ (Tolosa: Loubatie\res, 1992). s.n. Este\la (the backslash represents a grave accent over the previous letter; it is a modern editorial addition in .) [4] Cateline de la Mor, "Names from Fourteenth Century Foix" (SCA: Trimarian Known World Heraldic Symposium, AS XXIX; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) [URL:http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/cateline/foix.html]. [5] Friedemann, Sara L., "Jewish Given Names Found in _Les Noms Des Israélites en France_" (WWW: Self-published, 2000) http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/levy/