Collected Precedents of the S.C.A.: Dutch / Flemish


Name Precedents: Dutch / Flemish

Laurel: Date: (year.month.date) Precedent:
Shauna of Carrick Point 2004.05 Submitted as Kathelyne Fraser of Lochdoy, her name was registered in October 2003 as Katherine Fraser of Lochdoy to meet the submitter's request for an authentic Scottish name. The submitter requested a reconsideration of her originally submitted name, dropping the request for authenticity. The originally submitted form of her name, which combined a Flemish given name with Scots bynames, is certainly registerable. There is substantial contact between Flanders and Scotland from the 12th C on onward including large Flemish households in Scottish burghs. That names should combine elements from both naming pools is expected. [Kathelyne Fraser of Lochdoy, 05/04, A-Artemsia]
Shauna of Carrick Point 2004.05 Because Utrecht is a place name and not a generic toponym, the correct form of the byname is van Utrecht. Unfortunately, we are unable to drop the problematic element from this name. In the past, precedent has held that adding or removing a particle is only a minor change. However, according to the College of Arms Glossary published December 2003 "Major changes include dropping an element or phrase..." While der is not a complete phrase, it is a distinct element of the locative name phrase here. Therefore, dropping it would be a major change. We note that Pier van Utrecht is a lovely 15th C Dutch name. [Pier van der Utrecht, 05/04, R-Meridies]
Shauna of Carrick Point 2004.04 The name combines English and Flemish. Barring documentation of such combinations, this is one step from period practice. [Rosalind Ryne, 04/04, A-Lochac]
François la Flamme 2004.03 Submitted as Odriana vander Brugghe, the submitter requested authenticity for Flanders and allowed minor changes.

Odriana was documented from Walraven van Nijmegen's article "Dutch Womens' Names before 1100" (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1336/name1100vr.html). The byname vander Brugghe is dated to 1465 in Loveday Toddekyn's article "Flemish Names from Bruges" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/bruges/). As submitted, the elements of this name had a weirdness for a temporal disparity of greater than 300 years. In that amount of time, most languages in our period evolved and changed to some degree. Therefore, a name authentic for pre-1100 would likely have at least minor changes to spelling of the byname. A name authentic for 1465 would likely have at least minor changes to the given name.

In this case, the College found information regarding authentic forms of this given name appropriate for late period. The submitted given name Odriana was only found in Walraven's article (dated to pre-1100). The form Adriana is found dated to 1391-1428 in Guntram von Wolkenstein's article "Vlaamse Vrouwennamen" 'Dutch Women's Names' (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/guntram/vlaamse.htm). Adriana is also found dated to 1589 in Loveday's article cited above. As the form Odriana seems to have fallen out of use by the 15th C (the date for the submitted byname), we have changed the given name to the form Adriana in order to make this name temporally consistent for a single time period in Flanders in order to meet the submitter's request for authenticity. [Adriana vander Brugghe, 03/2004, A-Æthelmearc]

François la Flamme 2004.02 Sufficient contact existed between Flanders and Scotland in period to make a name combining Flemish and Scots registerable, though this combination is a weirdness. [Tanne Comyn, 02/2004, A-Artemisia]
François la Flamme 2003.11 Submitted as Georg Koopmann, no evidence could be found that the submitted spelling of the byname was used in period. Dated forms from Brechenmacher's Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen (s.n. Kopmann) include Copman 1227 and Kopmans 1485. Based on these examples, Kopman is a reasonable interpolation that is close to the submitted form. We have changed the byname to this form in order to register it. [Georg Kopman, 11/2003, A-�thelmearc]
François la Flamme 2003.08 Submitted as Balthazar van  Bruges, it appeared on the forms as Balthazar van der Bruges. The byname appears to combine elements of two distinct locative bynames used in Flanders: the Dutch van der Brugghe 'of/from the bridge' and the French de Bruges 'of/from Bruges.' The completely Dutch form of the latter would be van Brugge.

During the commentary period, Cresent was in contact with the submitter regarding the options that commenters had found regarding this byname. Crescent noted in her commentary that the submitter preferred the form van der Brugge, with van Brugge as a secondary choice. As van der Brugghe is only one character from the submitter's preferred form, we have changed the byname to this form in order to register this name. [Balthazar van der Brugghe, 08/2003 LoAR, A-Caid]

François la Flamme 2003.07 The elements Juan and Tegero were documented as Spanish. Balthazar was documented as Flemish.

Members of the College provided information regarding the level of contact between these cultures. Specificially:

The Spanish ruled the Low Countries during the 16th century and had large numbers of troops there because of the Dutch revolt. [Nebuly]

The spelling <Balthazar> is not a Spanish spelling (the <th> wasn't and still isn't generally used); <Baltasar> is found in my Isabel article. But the Lowlands were owned by the Hapsburgs, along with Spain, so in the 16th century, there is certainly sufficient contact to justify the mix (with a weirdness). [Siren]

Given this level of contact, combining Spanish and Flemish in an SCA name is registerable, though a weirdness. [Juan Balthazar Tegero, 07/2003 LoAR, A-Outlands]

François la Flamme 2003.06 Siren found support for the capital V in the byname Van Roosebeke:

[...] the issue of the capitalization of <van>. While it is unusual, it is found in period documents. In Luana's Bruges article (complete names 1514 census) I found <Lauwereins Vander Burch>, <Marc Vande Velde>, and <Pieter Van Dalle> before I stopped looking.

Given these examples, the capital V in Van is registerable in this submission. [Eric Van Roosebeke, 06/2003 LoAR, A-West]

François la Flamme 2003.01 Submitted as Thorgrim van de K�benhavn, the submitter requested authenticity for Danish and allowed any changes. The submitted byname van de K�benhavn combines van de, which appears in both Dutch and Low German, with K�benhavn, which is modern Danish. Because of this mix, this byname violates RfS III.1.a, which requires linguistic consistency in a name phrase. Metron Ariston provided information about period Danish forms of this name:

K�benhavn is the official modern Danish name for the city according to the official list of Danish place names published by the University of Copenhagen (K�benhavns Universitet) at levende.kms.dk/su/h-l.pdf. However, histories of the city at www.aok.dk/E/G/CPHDK/0000/03/86/ and www.danbbs.dk/~erikoest/cph_info.htm#CopenhagenCityHistory indicate the city was originally known in the medieval period as either simply Havn or later in medieval Danish as K�bmannehavn (Merchant's Harbor). The current name is an obvious derivation of the latter form.

From this information, af Havn and af K�bmannehavn are period Danish forms of this byname. As the latter is closer to the submitted form, we have changed the byname to this form in order to register this name and to meet the submitter's request for authenticity. [Thorgrim af K�bmannehavn, 01/2003 LoAR, A-Outlands]

François la Flamme 2003.01 Submitted as Christiane Janssoen, the LoI documented Janssoen with the statement "Dutch name found at www.panix.com/~mittle/names/german.shtml off of a collection of Dutch trade names. (Copies provided)". This is not an adequate summarization of the submitted documentation. The page cited is a list of links to name articles. The statement in the LoI does not indicate which of the numerous articles linked on this page was the article used to document this name.

Aryanhwy merch Catmael provided an evaluation of this name:

<Christiane> is a feminine name; she cannot be Jan's son. Appropriate feminine forms of the byname are <Jansdochter> 1478-81, <Jansdochtere> 1478-81, and <Jansz. Dochter> 1478, all from "15th C Dutch Names" (http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~sfriedemann/names/dutch15.htm). <Christiane> is an English or Scots form of the name. Evidence that I have for the name used in the Low Countries is the Dutch pet form <Stincken> (a pet form) 1478-81 (same source as above) and the Latin form <Cristine> from "Dutch Names in Latin Context, 1542" (http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~sfriedemann/names/latin-dutch.htm); <Christine> or <Christina> looks to be a reasonable vernacular form, based on "Flemish Names from Bruges, 1400-1600" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/bruges/). <Christine Jansdochter> would be a fully Dutch form of the name, <Christiane Johnson> would be a fully English form. Reaney & Wilson s.n. Johnson date this form to 1379.

Current evidence shows that Dutch bynames were literal in period. Since a woman cannot be anyone's son, the byname Janssoen is not registerable with a feminine given name. As the submitter allowed any changes and indicated that sound was most important to her, we have changed this to the fully English form Christiane Johnson in order to register this name. [Christiane Johnson, 01/2003 LoAR, A-Calontir]

François la Flamme 2002.08 Listed on the LoI as Ru von Falkenberg, the form listed the spelling Russ von Falkenberg. The LoI stated that "This submitter originally wanted the Dutch form of 'van Falkenburg', and if the COA can find documentation for this form he would like to go back to that." The LoI also noted that the submitter made "no request for authenticity, except for hoping that a Dutch form of his name can be found." (The submission forms clarified that the request for a Dutch form was limited to the byname.)

The LoI documented Ru� as a header form on p. 686 of Seibicke, Historishes Deutsches Vornamenbuck. This source is not on the "No Photocopy" list provided in Appendix H of the Administrative Handbook. As no photocopies were provided for this documentation, we were unable to determine if this source supported Ru� as a German given name in period. The College was able to find support for forms of Ru� as a byname, but could find no support for it as a given name. Lacking support for Ru� as a given name, it is not registerable as a given name.

The closest given name found in German was Ru�man, found in Balhow (p. 474 s.n. Ru�), which dates Ru�man Stralenberg to 1494. Nebuly found support for similar names in Dutch:

Since the client allows minor changes (and seems to think he wants a Dutch name), I'll point out that there are similar given names documented from the Low Countries. Aryanhwy's article on Dutch names from 1358-1361 [http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~sfriedemann/names/earlydutch14.htm] includes Rost & Raes, while her 15th century article [http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~sfriedemann/names/dutch15.htm] includes Roess, dated to 1478-81.

Since Falkenberg is not a Dutch city, I can't suggest a wholly Dutch form of the name, but the particle van is both Dutch and Low German, so its use is not a technical problem (RfS III.1.a). Also, there was a continuum of economic and social contact across the region in period - several Dutch cities belonged to the Hanseatic League. I would recommend Roess van Falkenberg as a Dutch / Low German name.

As the submitter only allows minor changes, we are unable to change the language of the given name to the Dutch form recommended by Nebuly. Another option, changing the submitted German given name Ru� to the documented German given name Ru�man, is dramatic enough that it is also a major change. [Ru� von Falkenberg, 08/2002, R-Meridies]

François la Flamme 2002.08 Submitted as Derek of Connemara, the submitter requested authenticity for 10th C Flemish/Irish. The language of the Low Countries in this time period was Old Low Franconian (Old Dutch). The language of Ireland in this time period was Middle Irish Gaelic. Lacking evidence that these cultures had significant contact, a name mixing these languages is not registerable. Withycombe (p. 82 s.n. Derek) dates Deryk to the 15th C and Derric to 1605 as English. Therefore, Deryk of Connemara and Derric of Connemara are registerable forms of this name. We have changed this name to the first of these options as it is the closer to the submitted form. [Deryk of Connemara, 08/2002, A-Atlantia]
François la Flamme 2002.03 Submitted as Cortlandt  Keep, Shire of, this mixed the Dutch Cortlandt with the English Keep in a placename. As a placename is a single name phrase, this combination is in violation of RfS III.1.a, which requires linguistic consistency within a single name phrase. The LoI noted that "If the mix is acceptable, the group would prefer the submitted spelling. Otherwise, they would prefer that the second element be changed to a Dutch term equivalent to 'keep'. No one in Æthelmearc was able to find an appropriate term." The Dutch word for a castle or keep is slot. Cortlandtslot and Slot Cortlandt are proper Dutch forms of this name. As Cortlandtslot is the closer of these two in sound and appearance to the submitted Cortlandt Keep, we have changed the name to that form. [Cortlandtslot, Shire of, 03/2002, A-Æthelmearc]
François la Flamme 2002.02 Pre-1100 Dutch and Old Norse were ruled registerable, though a weirdness, in the registration of Aldgudana Gunnarsdóttir in the LoAR of November 2001. [Rothin in flamska, 02/02, A-Outlands]
François la Flamme 2002.02 This name mixes the Dutch given name Toen and the English surname Fitzwilliam, which is registerable, though it is a weirdness. [Toen Fitzwilliam, 02/02, A-Calontir]
François la Flamme 2001.11 This name combines a pre-1100 Dutch given name with a Norse byname. Given the wide sphere of influence of Norse traders/raiders/et cetera, it seems reasonable that these two cultures had significant contact. Therefore, this combination is registerable, although a weirdness. [Aldgudana Gunnarsdóttir, 11/01, A-An Tir]
François la Flamme 2001.10 No documentation was found to support the construction of the byname van de Leeuwe. Aernoud de Leeuwe is listed in de Grood's article "Names from Bruges". However, this is a descriptive byname meaning 'the Lion' and is therefore not appropriate for use with the locative particle van. Dutch bynames in period matched the gender of the given name. Therefore de Leeuwe is a masculine byname. Lacking an indication of what the feminine form of this byname would be, we are unable to fix this name and must return it. [Beldina van de Leeuwe, 10/01, R-Outlands]
François la Flamme 2001.10 The submitter requested authenticity for 13th-16th C Flemish. The surname van Orley is documented only from general reference sources as the name of a painter from Brussels (c. 1490-1542) who is also referred to as d'Orley. It is worth noting that the only signed example of this painter's work (from 1519) is signed BERNADUS DORLEII FACIBAT. The form van Orley seems to be a mistranslation of the period French surname d'Orley and may or may not date to period. Given that the painter lived in period, and lacking proof that van Orley is a post-period form, we are giving the submitter the benefit of the doubt and registering this name. Given the nature of the documentation of van Orley, we do not know whether this name is authentic for the submitter's desired time and culture. [Mareike van Orley, 10/01, A-Drachenwald]
François la Flamme 2001.10 Submitted as Diederic van Flandres, the support for van Flandres is from an Academy of Saint Gabriel letter (client #1295). Nebuly was one of the contributors to this letter and has found a mistake in how the notation in that source was originally interpreted. As such, van Flandres is a combination of two languages which violates RfS III.1.a, and so is not registerable. Nebuly writes:
The byname van Flandres is problematic since van is a Dutch preposition while Flandres is a French spelling. Under RfS III.1.a. this should be returned for mixing two languages in a single phrase. The simplest way to correct this is to make the byname entirely French as de Flandres. The most likely Dutch form is Vlaminck, with no preposition (Luana de Grood, 1594).
Additionally, evidence has been found of the singular Flandre in French bynames rather than the plural Flandres. Changing van Flandres to de Flandre is a smaller change than changing van Flandres to Vlaminck. Since the submitter did not note any preferences on his forms regarding language/culture, we have made the smaller change in order to register this name. [Diederic de Flandre, 10/01, A-Æthelmearc]
François la Flamme 2001.09 Submitted as Dirk van het Muiderslot, slot is the Dutch word for 'castle'. While the castle is called Muiderslot or Slot Muider in Dutch, no evidence was found for including slot in a locative byname. The article het is not appropriate without the 'castle' component. With the appropriate grammatical changes after the preposition, the most likely form for a personal name would be Dirk van Muiden. [Dirk van Muiden, 09/01, A-Atenveldt]
Elsbeth Anne Roth 2001.06 Capitalization of van is likely to be a modern phenomenon in Dutch. However, the submitter has provided documentation which lists Van Kouwenhoven with a capitalized V, in addition to other names from the same source where this capitalization does not occur. While the capitalization may appear because of normalization, we are giving the submitter the benefit of the doubt. [Agnes Van Kouwenhoven, 06/01, A-Middle]
Elsbeth Anne Roth 2000.09 Submitted on the LoI as Catharina de Bruyn, the given name was originally submitted as Caterina and changed because the Kingdom College of Heralds did not have evidence for sufficient contact between Venice and Flanders to allow the registration of mixed names. However, the Cultural Atlas of the Renaissance (p. 108) shows trade routes c. 1500 clearly linking Flanders and Venice, as well as numerous other points. That shows ample contact between Flanders and Venice, two of the major trading powers of the era. [Caterina de Bruyn, 09/00, A-Middle]
Elsbeth Anne Roth 2000.09 First, Mefrouwe is a form of address that literally means 'My Lady' � it is therefore inappropriate in an SCA name. Further, op den See does not mean 'from the Sea' but 'at sea', in the sense of being afloat . The appropriate form of the lake would be van der See. [Mefrouwe Beatrix op den See, 09/00, R-Outlands]
Elsbeth Anne Roth 2000.06 The given name had two problems. First, names from classical literature are not known to have been used in the Netherlands in period. This in itself would not have warranted a return by our rules, as Netherlands had access to classical authors. Second, Pythias in the context of Damon and � seems to be a misreading of Phinthias; the only classical references to Pythias refer to females. [Pythias of Rotterdam, 06/00, R-Caid]
Elsbeth Anne Roth 2000.05 Submitted as Gerlinda Uda Agast , the name had two moderately serious problems. First, there was a five-century gap between the documented dates for the given names and the byname; second, we have found no evidence that double given names were used in Dutch-speaking regions in our period. Neither of these problems would in itself be grounds for return, but the combination is unacceptable, as it would take the name two steps away from period practice. We have therefore dropped the second given name. [Gerlinda Agast, 05/00, A-Middle]
Jaelle of Armida 1998.07 [Axel Reebocjager] Submitted as Axel Jager van die Reebok, the correct form of Axel Rosebuck Hunter, according to Schwartzdrachen, who is a native Dutch speaker, is Axel Reebocjager. (Jaelle of Armida, LoAR July 1998)
Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme 1992.09 The v [in van] wasn't capitalized in Dutch names until later, when they were coalesced into a single surname (e.g. Vanderbilt). (David van den Storm, September, 1992, pg. 5)
Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme 1992.07 [Vanderman] The byname ...was supposed to mean "wandering man" in Dutch. It does not, nor could anyone document it as a surname. The correct Dutch for the meaning he seems to want ("wanderer, rambler, rover") is zwerver. (Magnus Zwerver, July, 1992, pg. 14)