Names from 13th Century Northumberland

by Sara L. Uckelman (known in the SCA as Aryanhwy merch Catmael)

© 2004, 2005 Sara L. Uckelman; all rights reserved
last updated 26Sep06

Introduction

The following names of roughly 1070 men and women are from the Assize Roll of Northumberland, 40 Henry III. (A.D. 1256). Without exception, the given names of the documents are Latinized. The bynames, depending on their type, are either in Latin or in the vernacular. Relational bynames, such as 'son of', 'wife of', etc., are generally all in Latin. Locative bynames use the Latin preposition de, with the place name generally in the vernacular. The few descriptive bynames are in the vernacular. Occupational bynames, which are the rarest, can be either in Latin or the vernacular.

Virtually all of the women in this document are identified as the wife of someone. Oftentimes, a woman's husband has been mentioned just preceding her, and so an entry for a woman might look like Agnes uxor ejus 'Agnes, his wife'. Other times, the man's name is specified explicitly.

Feminine Given Names

Below are listed the feminine given names and women's bynames found in this document. The given names are arranged listed in their Latin nominative form, and arranged by frequencey. The bynames are sorted by frequency of type. You can also browse the raw data for this article.

The forms found in the document are Latin forms that are appropriate for Latin contexts only, e.g., written documents or some church and university settings where the spoken language was Latin. The spoken English form of the name often differed from the Latin documentary name. I have listed the expected vernacular in the final column. These vernacular forms come from Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in A Dictionary of English Surnames" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997).

Latin formNumberVariantsVernacular formNotes
Agnes28Agneta, AngnesAgnes
Alicia14AlesiaAlice
Cristiana13CristinaChristian
Matillis11Matild
Isabella9Isabel
Emma8Emma
Margeria8Margery
Alina6AlynaAline
Eva6Eve
Hawisia5Hawis
Amabilia4AmabilliaAmabil
Beatrix4Beatrix
Juliana4Gillian
Dionisia3Denis
Johanna3Joan
Margareta3Margaret
Maria3Mary
Rametta3Ramett
Cecelia2CeciliaCecily
Constancia2Custance
Julia2
Mariota2Mariot
Marsila2
Sibilla2Sibil
Alienora1Alienor
Diana1
Editha1Edith
Elizabetha1Elizabeth
Ella1
Idonea1Idony
Is'1This is probably a scribal abbreviation of Isabella.
Isolda1Isold ?
Lucia1Lucy
Mabilia1Mabil
Milesenta1MilisentaMilisent, Milesent
Sussanna1
Wymarc1

Feminine Bynames

TypeNumberExamplesMeaning
uxor ejus/uxor sua67'wife of the previous/aforesaid'
quæ fuit uxor X24quæ fuit uxor Eustacii de Dalton, quæ uxor Rogeri de Hatehawes'who is the wife of X'
uxor X19uxor Alani de Menyl, uxor Ricardi Moryn'wife of X'
locative18de Muschaump', de Neweham, de Quenton''from X'
filia X18filia Elyæ de Hetpol', filia Margeriæ'daughter of X'
other7Bertram, Briam, Goye, Paynel
soror ejus5'sister of the previous/aforesaid'
no byname2

Masculine Given Names

As with the women's names, the men's given names were all recorded in Latin, and I have listed them by their standard Latin nominative form. These spellings are appropriate for Latin contexts only and do not necessarily represent the vernacular (spoken) form in use at this time. Where known, I have listed the likely vernacular form.

Latin formNumberVariantsVernacular formNotes
Willelmus165Willielmus
Johannes106John
Robertus84Robert
Ricardus82Ricard, Richard
Thomas56Thomas
Rogerus48Roger
Walterus43Walter
Adam41Adam
Hugo25Hugh
Simon22Simon
Gilbertus19Gilbert
Alanus18AllanusAlan
Radulphus17
Henricus16Henry
Nicholaus15Nicholas, Nicol
Alexander11Alexander
Michael10Michael
Galfridus9
Ranulphus8
Elias7ElyasElis, Ellis
Petrus7
Stephanus6
Patricius4
Bartholomeæus3
Duncanus3DunkanusDuncan, Dunkan
Fulco3
Jacobus3
Laurentius3Laurencius
Lucas3
Utredus3Uttredus
Wychardus3Wychard'
Wydo3
Andreas2
Eustachius2
Ingram2
Martinus2
Reginaldus2
Sampson2Sampson
Turstanus2TurstanTurstan
Archibaldus1
Arkil'1
Aylmer'1
Bernardus1
Carbunell'1
Cristianus1Cristian, Christian
Eborardus1
Edgerus1Edger
Edmundus1Edmund
Edulfus1Edulf
Edwardus1Edward
EdwynusEdwyn
Engelramus1
Ernaldus1
Everardus1
Godefridus1
Godman1
Gregorius1
Herewardus1Hereward
Humfridus1
Hutard1
Ivo1
Mildredus1
Milo1
Moyses1
Odenellus1
Philippus1
Reynerus1
Rolaund1
Semmanus1
Silvester1
Totus1
Tyok1
Wallranus1
Wiscardus1

Sources:

Great Britain. Assizes (Northumberland). Three early assize rolls for the county of Nortymberland, sæc. XIII. (Durham [Eng.] Published for the Society by Andrews and Co., 1891.)