ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2554 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2554 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 28 May 2002 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a 16th century French Protestant living in (or perhaps born in) England. You asked whether French parents would have given their son an English name, whether they would have anglicized their own surname, and whether they would have used English or French spellings. Here is what we have found. As it happens, we have an excellent collection of data that allows us to answer your questions with great confidence. It is a transcription of official records of immigrants and the children of immigrants living in various parts of England in the 1560s and in much of the 17th century [1, 2]. Most of this letter is based on that data. In studying this data, we find that in 16th and early 17th century records names were typically recorded either in French or English, and almost never as a mixture of the two languages. This matches data we've seen in other times and places: A man's name might be written (or spoken) in his own language or his neighbors', depending on context, i.e. the language being used. Our source contains numerous examples of Frenchmen identified as and but also as or . For example, in 1618 we find [2]: Anthony Lemozin an inmate of the house of one Henshaw, in Hanging-sword alley; born at Lemozin, Fraunce; been in England 16 yeers; married an Englishwoman. is undoubtedly an English rendering of , the French province surrounding the city of Limoges. The man was probably known in French as . is the French province surrounding the city of . The names of both the city and the province gave rise to modern French surnames: , , and [3, 4]. In many cases, the preposition had been dropped by the 16th century; our data contains surnames based on place names both with and without the preposition. By your period, the French used inherited family names, much as we do today, so a man called didn't necessarily come from Saintes [7]. Indeed, outside the nobility, surnames based on cities and province generally were originally used for people who had moved away from their original homes; so a 16th century Frenchman called very likely wouldn't have lived in Saintonge! However, these are both excellent late-period French names. Unfortunately, we haven't found examples of these particular surnames rendered in English documents, so we aren't certain how they would have been anglicized. In general, names are rendered phonetically with certain equivalent words being translated. For example, the word is translated in the name 1622 while the name 1576 is probably a phonetic record of . Similarly, 1576 probably represents French masculine or an earlier form of this name. That suggests that French could have produced English or ; might have become ; and might end up as . The last is supported by the example [5, 6]. We therefore recommend that you choose a French name like or and render it into English as , , or the like. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Maridonna Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 28 May 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Rev. A. W. Cornelius Hallen, "List of Strangers, London 1567/8", in _The Genealogical Magazine_, vol.I 1897/8 and vol.II 1898/9. Transcribed by Mike Gallafent, 2001. [2] William Durant Cooper, "List of Foreign Protestants and Aliens Reisdent in England 1618-1688" (London: The Camden Society, 1862). Transcribed by Mike Gallafent, 2001. [3] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.n. Saint. [4] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille_ (Librairie Acade/mique Perrin, 1997), s.n. Saintonge. [5] Cooper, pp. 56, 96. [6] Hallen, pp. 6, 16, 32. [7] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987). Dauzat, Albert, _Les Noms de Famille de France_ (Paris: Librairie Guenegaud, 1988), 40f. The Ordinance of Villers-Cotteret of 1539 made the use of family names obligatory throughout the possessions of the king of France. This usage had already been quite general in the towns ('villes') for several generations, though names were more fluid in rural areas. In some regions the ordinance was not rigorously enforced, and as late as the electoral assembly of 1789 many of the delegates of the 'serfs du mont Jura' had only baptismal names. At the other extreme, we have letters of dispensation from as early as Louis XI -- the earliest is 1474 -- authorizing changes of surname of members of the royal entourage (p.344). In Be/arn, Artois, Flanders, Franche-Comte/, and Alsace the fixation of family names didn't occur until the 17th c., when these regions were brought under the French crown, and in Lorraine not until the 18th c. In francophone Switzerland family names were fixed by custom (though not by law) by the end of the 16th c. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval (with input from Talan & Aryanhwy), 21 Mar 2003: Clarified the translation of . We don't actually have a period instance of , and Morlet's Dictionnaire gives reason to wonder if it is a modern learned form of Latin . Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille_ (Librairie Acade/mique Perrin, 1997), s.n. Dominique.