[ANSTHRLD] Name documentation

Sat May 23 14:00:22 PDT 2009

Coenred aet Rauenesdale wrote:
> . . .Duncan Maxwell ran into a conflict.. . .The recommendation is  
> that he add a locative to the name. . .His persona is mid to late  
> 16th century Scot.  We have found on the internet that there is a  
> border region called Nithsdale and that there was actually a  
> Maxwell presence their.  As such he wants to submit Duncan Maxwell  
> of Nithsdale.

Quick check with the ILoI. . .Looks like you found "Duncan" in "Early  
16th Century Scottish Lowland Names" <http://www.medievalscotland.org/ 
scotnames/lowland16/meninstances.shtml>, where that form is found 5  
times between 1500 and 1514 and 20 more times in suspect  
transcriptions of documents dated to between 1502 and 1521, and are  
using a mundane name allowance for "Maxwell", which you found in  
Black’s _Surnames of Scotland_ (1st Ed., page 589-590) but with no  
dates.  (It's always a good idea to be specific about how all the  
phrases in a name were documented when you're asking for help-- 
especially with construction--so it can be evaluated as a whole.)

Just so you know, Aryanhwy merch Catmael's "Index of Scots Names  
Found in Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue" cites five reliably- 
dated instances of "Maxwell" <http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/ 
scots/dost/maxwell.html> from your client's period (and a couple of  
"Duncan" <http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/scots/dost/ 
duncan.html>, though you don't really need those) .

> My question is: how would I document this construction of the name?

Find some examples of names of the form "[given] [inherited surname]  
of [name of the same sort of place that Nithsdale is]" in Scots  
contexts from your client's period.

If you can't do that, document the use of annotations of the form "of  
[name of the same sort of place that Nithsdale is]" after names of  
the form "[given name] [surname]" in records from the period, and  
argue that you're submitting a documentary form.

I found in the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue mention of:

a "Johne Wardlaw of Torry" from a document from 1532 <http:// 
www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?query=By>,

a "William Caverhill of Breryʒardis" from a document from 1542  
<http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?query=brery>,

a "Martene Ellot of Braidlie" from a document from 1582 <http:// 
www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?query=causing>, and

a "Iohn Campbell of Caddell" from a document from 1596 <http:// 
www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?query=cloud>.

That should suffice to establish the general pattern "[given]  
[inherited surname] [locative byname using 'of']".  Only one problem  
remains.  Nithsdale is a region (and a river valley).  I haven't been  
able to determine what types of places some of those mentioned above  
are, but all those I have been able to identify are towns.  Towns and  
regions are treated differently in many naming traditions.

I did find in the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue mention of:

a "Thomas of Strathern" in a quote from a document from 1462 <http:// 
www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?query=Dwell> and

a "Richard of Strathern" in one from 1472 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/ 
getent4.php?query=analy>.

Strathearn is a region (and a river valley)  <http://en.wikipedia.org/ 
wiki/Strathearn>, so this is a good indication that locatives  
incorporating the names of regions were at least sometimes used a  
century before your client's period.

Mentions of:

"Iames Ogilby of Arely", in a quote from a document from 1491 <http:// 
www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?query=Banrent> and

"Johne of Bute" in one from 1507 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php? 
query=Blanket>

further support the use in that period of the names of places bigger  
than towns in locatives formed with "of" (though only "Iames Ogilby  
of Arely" shows such a name used after a surname).  Airlie is a  
parish <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airlie,_Angus> and Bute is an  
island <http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/outandabout/ 
isle_of_bute.htm>.

> Secondly, do I have enough evidence of the existence of this area  
> in period?

I don't think there's any question the area existed.  (The British  
Isles haven't been all that seismically active over the last few  
hundred years.)  What you need is evidence that the place name was  
used in your client's period.  And no, I didn't see any of that on  
the websites you cited.  Fortunately. . .

I found a mention of "Nidisdaill" in a quote from a document from  
1531 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?query=Hals> (bibliographic  
citation at <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent7.php?query=Bell.+Boece>).

I also found a (Latin-language) map from 1573 that includes "Nidis  
dale" <http://www.nls.uk/maps/scotland/detail.cfm?id=128>

and two from 1595 that include "Nythes daill" <http://www.nls.uk/maps/ 
scotland/detail.cfm?id=130> <http://www.nls.uk/maps/scotland/ 
detail.cfm?id=131>.

In addition, Aryanhwy merch Catmael's "Index of Scots names found in  
'Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue'" includes a single instance  
of "Nithisdaill" from 1624 <http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/scots/ 
dost/nithsdale.html>.  It's post-period, but in the absence of better  
evidence a citation from the first half of the 17th century is often  
accepted as an indication that a given form *might* have been used in  
the 16th.  Personally, I'd choose one of the documented 16th-century  
forms, since they're available.

If you're not satisfied with the support for a late-16th-century "of  
[region]" locative, the maps mentioned above and others on the site  
of the National Library of Scotland <http://www.nls.uk/maps/scotland/ 
index.html> include the names of any number of towns, and Aryanhwy's  
article documents a number of "of"-style locatives that your client  
might like.

> As we are deployed right now and have no access to a library, this  
> is really the best I can do.

It's amazing what you can find in the Medieval Names Archive <http:// 
www.s-gabriel.org/names/>.  I always start there.  Google and  
Wikipedia are very useful, too.  Those three led me to everything I  
cited above.

Coblaith Muimnech
<mailto:Coblaith at sbcglobal.net>
<http://coblaith.net>