A Handful of 12^th Century Gascon Names

by Juliana de Luna (Julia Smith)

Some of the earliest documents written in vernacular Romance (the term we use jointly for the languages descended from Latin, including Spanish, French, and Italian) are wills and property transactions. As such, they give many names. This article gives the names of 32 individuals, 29 men and 3 women) whose names were found in Gascon vernacular documents from the 12th century. Gascon is a Romance language found in southern France, related to languages like Occitan, but separate from it.

It's not clear if the name frequencies are typical of a broader population, or if it's a case of families using the same names over and over. Nonetheless, it is helpful for those who want to get a sense of Gascon names, a region about which we have very little data.

1179

Men (no women)

A. de Martras (also Mártras; this is presumably Arnald)
Anér
Arnald de la Cása
Arnald de Martras
Arnald Gilem
Arramon Amel d'Ardeia (also d'Ardéia)
Bernad d'Osas (also Osás)
Bernad de Codz
Bertran
Bezián
Bonson d'a Roqafort (also Bonome and Róqafort)
Gidbért (also Gidbert)
Gilem de Codz
Gilem de la Garriga (also W.)
Gilem de Sen Germér
Girald
Ugón

c. 1200

Men

Armenter Bila
Arramon W.
Bernad
Bidal d'Auos
Bidal de Dolza de l'Escalér
Bidal de Visa
Bidallac (maybe Bidal Lac)
Fanta de Sallán
Fortaner de Binég (also Fortanér)
Gualart de Baredga
Nadal
Per de Bila
Rramon Sanz

Women

Dolza Aranesa
Dolza d'Auos
Maria

Source

Two documents in Rodney Sampson, Early Romance Texts: An Anthology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1980.

HTML editing by Mari ingen Briain meic Donnchada.

Medieval Scotland | Medieval Names Archive | A Handful of 12^th Century Gascon Names

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