Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 732

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 732

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/732

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings,

Here's the information we found on the name "Lilliana."

It appears that "Lillian" was used in period as a diminuitive of "Elizabeth" (equivalent to the modern "Liz" or "Beth.") It wasn't very common, but we did find a man named "Geoffrey Lilion" in 1279--"Lilion" is apparently the name of his mother. (1)

It's reasonable to think that "Lilliana" could have been used as a Latin form of "Lilian" around this time. However, it's not clear that a woman whose name was written as "Lilliana" in Latin would have used that form of her name in daily life--it's more likely that her neighbors would call her "Lillian."

Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, and Zenobia Naphtali contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel

(1) Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995).