[ANSTHRLD] name submission - Zoya

doug bell magnus77840 at hotmail.com
Thu Sep 6 13:43:15 PDT 2001


Zoya

The given name is Russian and spelled Zoia.

Paul Wickenden of Thanet, Dictionary of Russian Names, 3rd edition.
page 424 header Zoia - female name meaning 'life'
dated to 1356, Zoika dated 1531.

Leigh

It is an English name derived from a place name
and is in Reaney & Wilson and Bardsly. It is period
but it is English.  I find no evidence of it in Russian
or German.  Reaney & Wilson header Lea has <Leigh> is another English
surname which has recently been re-used as a woman's name. This one is
derived from a place name, or more accurately from any of many place names.
The Middle English word <leigh> meant "clearing in the woods", and was
commonly used in place names and personal names from the 12th to the 14th
century:
Ailric de la Leie 1148
William de la Le 1207
John de Leye 1275
Richard atte Legh 1296
John del Lee 1384
Hugh atte Leygh 1392

The names are both period but they can't be combined.
Given Talan's ruling I would recommend return of this name barring further
evidence.
"Such a Russian [given]/English [surname] combination is extremely
improbable in period. (Talan Gwynek, LoAR September 1995, p. 10)"  His
ruling might be
overturned by showing significant contact between
England and Russia in the 1500s.  There was such contact
during the search for the NorthEast Passage during Elizabeth's reign.  How
much time it would take to
research that I couldn't say.  Talan's rulings have always
been hard to overturn.

Whether English/Russian names is something we want to
encourage is another debate.

I suspect that Zoya Leigh was the grandmother's name
modernized and then translated into English.  I can
send a message Paul's way to see if he has the
actual Russian name of Catherine's grandmother.
It might be very strange to spell and pronounce.
Does the client read Russian?

Magnus von Lubeck

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