byname

by Talan Gwynek (Brian M. Scott) and Arval Benicoeur (Joshua Mittleman) [email protected] and [email protected] Most medieval bynames were simple and straightforward: your father's name, your home village, your occupation, or perhaps some notable personal characteristic. Sometimes the same kinds of ideas were expressed in more elaborate ways, but the ideas remained very down-to-earth. These four types of byname are found in almost every medieval European culture, though of course the relative frequency and grammatical construction vary considerably from one language to the next [[2]]( . We've chosen to illustrate this discussion with medieval English examples, but the general principles apply to most medieval European languages. The indented paragraphs delve a little more deeply into English naming practices, and don't apply generally. An appendix lists good sources for choosing bynames from other medieval languages. A patronymic byname identifies you as your father's child. Patronymics are an old and common type of byname in most period European cultures. English and some other cultures also used metronymics, bynames referring to your mother; they did not connote bastardy. Not all cultures used metronymics, though, and patronymics were always more common. There are three main types of patronymic in English. The earliest style in English simply used the parent's name as a byname, e.g. Geoffrey Anketil 1209 was the son of a man named Anketil . When the father's name was used as a byname without modification, we sometime call it an unmarked patronymic . Later you get forms like Thomas Richardes 1327 'Richard's Thomas' or Robert Willeson 1324 'Will(e)'s son', corresponding to modern Richards and Wilson . This last type is usually constructed, as in this example, from a pet form of a name that was popular in the Middle Ages, not with full forms of those names or with names carried over in modified form from Old English. A locative byname identifies you by the place where you live, work, or were born, or by the land you own. There are two broad categories of locative: toponymic and topographical. In general, someone was named after a large place only after he left it: The name Simon Welsche 1279 wouldn't distinguish a man from every other Simon in Wales; but it was apparently a good identifier in Bedfordshire where Welshmen were rare. People were usually named after large places when they had moved a long distance. On the other hand, Richard Overthegate 1327 would hardly have been a useful identifier if Richard ventured more than a few miles away from the gate for which he was named. By far the most common preposition in medieval English usage was at , generally combined with the definite article as atte 'at the' (or some minor variant). Typical examples are Attewode 1243 'at the wood' and Attemille 1242 'at the mill'. Many other prepositions also occur: Vnderegge 1194 'under edge', for someone who lived at the foot of an escarpment, Overthebek c.1270 'over the beck (i.e., stream)', Bithewaye 1243 'by the way', for someone who lived by the road, and in theffelde 1333 'in the field' are good examples. Just about the least common preposition is of , though it does occur once in a while, e.g., othe felde 1327 'of the field' [[3]]( . In most cases the preposition (and article, if present) were eventually lost; the full forms are rare after c.1400. In a few cases they were fused with the noun, as in the modern names Atwood , Attwater , and Underhill . Occupational and status bynames identify you by an occupation or rank. In this category we include both literal identifications, like John Smith for a man who was a smith, and figurative descriptions, like Agnes le Pope c.1230, who certainly was not the Pope! Something about her behavior led people to give her that byname, which could well have been sarcastic or even insulting. Up to about 1400 these are often found in English with the definite article, which is almost always