Early Names of Britain and France

A Consideration of Pictish Names, by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn

The First Thousand Years of British Names, by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn

A very detailed survey of names in Roman Britain and names in Wales from the Old Welsh Period.

Names of Women of the Brythonic North in the 5-7th Centuries, by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn

A discussion of the 18 feminine names that can be identified as occurring in this culture.

Name Constructions in Gaulish, by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn

The language of late-Roman Gaul was a member of the Celtic language family, like Welsh, British, and Breton.

Early Medieval Breton Names, by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn

An analysis of Breton names recorded up to the 12th century.

Classical and Imperial Roman Names

A Simple Guide to Classical Roman Naming Practices, by Aryanhwy merch Catmael

A general discussion. Not medieval, of course, but early medieval naming in much of Europe evolved from Roman practices, so it is certainly relevant.

"Roman Names" in The Private Life of the Romans by Harold Whetstone Johnston, Revised by Mary Johnston

A chapter in a book re-published on the web. A little dense, but very informative on classical Roman naming customs.

Academy of Saint Gabriel report 2206

A brief discussion of Roman naming practices from the 1st to 3rd centuries.

Roman Naming Conventions.

This one contains useful lists of praenomina and tribes and information on the names of foreigners, slaves, and freedmen. It also contains a list of Roman names of places in Italy.

A Study of the Cognomina of Soldiers in the Roman Legions, Lindley Richard Dean

A dissertation on Roman cognomina, including analyses and lists of names.

Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania: Indices, King's College, London

Index to a collection of inscriptions from Roman North Africa. Includes lists organized by praenomen, gentilicium, cognomen, and signum, names of the imperial family and divine entities, geographical terms, and tribes.

Roman Naming Customs

There are lots of general discussions of late Republican and early Imperial Roman naming customs. Here are some that we've found useful. They apply up to about the 3rd century.

• Names, at the Vindolanda Tablets Online website, an online archealogical exhibit that also includes lists of names and placenames from the tablets.
• Roman Nomenclature
• On Choosing a Roman Name
• Roman Names

Biographical lists of Romans

• Roman Empire. This excellent site has moved; it included some lists of names of Roman officials: censors and consuls.
• Who was Who in Roman Times, and particularly the lists of holders of offices and of families. Two pages in a large site; these give lists of names, with dates and references. The sub-pages may not display properly in Netscape.
• Ancient Roman Government, containing lists of emperors, consuls, and statesmen.

Gothic Names

Academy of Saint Gabriel report 2392

A discussion of Gothic names from the 3rd to 6th centuries, including a list of masculine names in Latinized forms with Gothic forms of some of them.

Academy of Saint Gabriel report 437

Contains another overlapping list of masculine Gothic names used 300-600, in Latinized forms, from the same source as used for report 2392.

Academy of Saint Gabriel report 1928

Contain lists of Latinized 5th-6th Gothic feminine names and 6th-10th century Hispano-Gothic feminine names, as well as some discussion of late Gothic naming customs.

Gothic Names, by Tim O'Neill

A short article on Gothic given names, including reconstructions of many of the first and second elements from which Gothic given names were composed.

Ancient Iranian Names

The articles in this section describe names linguistically related to the ancient Iranian languages, including Scythian, Sarmatian, and Old Persian. For medieval Persian names, see the Islamic section of the Medieval Names Archive.

Greek Names with Scytho-Sarmatian Roots, by Ursula Georges

Names with possible Scythian or Sarmatian roots found in classical Greek inscriptions from towns near the Black Sea.

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 3006

Discusses the name Tomyris.

Names of Persia

An article from a Zoroastrian website. The names are divided into four sections. The "Avestan" and "Old Persian" names date to around 1000 BCE and 500-600 BCE, respectively. Names from the other two sections are modern. Note that during and after the European Middle Ages, Persia was Muslim; thus, these lists are probably only applicable for re-creation of earlier cultures.

The Medieval Names Archive is published by the Academy of Saint Gabriel and Joshua Mittleman.
© 1997-2009. Copyright on individual articles belongs to their authors.
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/otherearly.shtml