TRANSLATION of M. DE GERVILLE'S THIRD LETTER on the PROPER NAMES used in NORMANDY, printed in vol. xiii of Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie' (1844), pp. 283-296.

After having, in the two preceding letters, sketched the names of habitations, I will now fulfil my promise of doing as much for their inhabitants. Notwithstanding my desire for brevity, this subject demands so many details that I shall approach it without preface. I shall commence with the names which can be proved to have existed amongst us in the times of the Merovingians. In the number of these, some are of Latin original; but the majority will be found to be Teutonic. I might begin with the names of the bishops of our cities, and those of the superiors of our great monasteries, but they are to be found in the eleventh volume of 'Gallia Christiana,' which is now well known in Normandy; I pass, therefore, to the names of functionaries of another class those who coined the royal money in Normandy under the Merovingians. In citing these I shall have the twofold advantage of exhibiting the names of those officers of whom few have heard, and those of many of the places of our province where money was coined at this epoch, with the proportion which the Latin bear to the German. This proportion is much less subject to dispute among the civil functionaries than among the higher ecclesiastics, many of whose Teutonic names are latinized in the acts of councils. I give the places in alphabetical order. In each place I shall mark the names of the mint-masters; those which appear to me

to be Teutonic I shall underline, while those which resemble Latin I shall pass by without observation. Abrincae or Abrincktae (Avranches), Berulf, Leudulf, Sepagiens.

Alna, Laune (canton de Lessay), Arigis.

Baiocae, Bayeux, Anderanus, Antidiotus, Chidolen. Brixia, Brixis vico, Brix, between Valognes and Cherbourg, Dlauno, Waldon.

Costanca, Coutances, Leudomar, Rionicius.
Doroccae, Dreux, Gondofrid.

Ebroicae, Evreux, Ansoald, Eridegisel, Eligius, or Elegius, or Elicius. (?)

Gemeliaco, Jumièges, St. Filbert (probably St. Filbert, abbot of Jumièges; the name of Gemedico also occurs), Nectarius.

Lixiovius civitas, Lisieux

Loco sancto or santco (Lieuxaint, near Valognes), Ascariaco, Dacoald.

Rodomo, Rotomo, Rotomago (Rouen), Anoald, Audomund, Baudacharius, Bertchramnus, Chagnoald, Gniloac, Desiderio, Ernebert, Melgito.

Saius, ii, (Séez), Murnus.

Sanctae ecclesiae (Ste. Mère-Eglise), Austomerit.* After these names, which will appear very barbarous (and which are perhaps wholly Teutonic), I hasten to others which will be better understood; and first to those which indicate the countries from which the ancestors of those who bear them sprang. The name of Mancel, or de Mansel, designates a person originally from Maine.

L'Angevin, le Poitevin, le Normand, le Bret or le Breton, l'Anglais. In all these names, which are * The italics are as I have here given them; the distinction promised by M. de Gerville having been overlooked by the printer.-TRANS.

very common in Normandy, you perceive the country of those who were at one and the same time under the government of the dukes of Normandy and the kings of England,—particularly of the Plantagenets. At this epoch the people of these countries were brethren.

Another class of names of countries marks the soldiers, who, under the reigns of Henry II, Richard Cœur de Lion, and John Sans-Terre, often supplied the places of those who were permitted to redeem themselves from military service. These are the Picards, Flamands (Flemings), and Brabançons (Brabantines). The last often took the name of Barbanchons, which is still very common in the Cotentin.*

The Gallois and the Escots are subdivisions of the English (Welsh and Scots). In the word Escot you observe the initial E,' which always occurs when a name commences with an 'S' followed by a consonant.

After these names of provinces, we have those of their subdivisions, as the Haguais, inhabitants of the Hague, and the Briseis, the people of Brix.

The provinces furnish the first great family names; then follow the arrondissements, the cantons, and the communes, during the whole period of ecclesiastical domination.

Christianity has introduced one half of our family names; and baptismal names abound with the corruptions which time has produced.

. From JEAN (John), which is one of the most widelyspread, have been formed Jeanet, Jeanin, Jennet, Jeanot, Jehan, Johan, Jouhan, Jouan, and also Hannes, which is the termination of Johannes. This final is much more common in Germany than in France. I know many

families of Hannes in Normandy.

*COTENTIN: the district around Coutances.-TRANS.

From JACQUES or JAME (James), which was Norman before it was English, are derived the surnames of Jacquot, Jacquin, Jacquet, Jacquart, Jacquemin, Jacqueminot, Jamin, Jamart, Jametel, Jamot.

From PIERRE (Peter) we have insensibly formed those of Perrin, Pierret, Pierrot, Pierrolin or Perrolin, Pierrelin.

MATTHEW has undergone great alterations, and has furnished a string of family names, as Macé, Mahé, Mathey, Mahieu, Massieux, Massy.

From ST. BRICE we have formed the names of Brissons or Briçon, and its diminutive Brissonet, Bricard, Brizard, Brizon.

Among our names of families derived from those of Saints, I would have you remark the termination in ire, to which I should have paid no attention if it were not common and like the consequence of a fixed principle the names of Basire, Cecire, Sebire, and Mabire are sufficiently common in Normandy. They certainly come from Basile, Cecile, Sebille or Sybille, and Mabile. This substitution, which has acquired force by custom, is not according to the usual mode of our alterations of names.

The Old Testament names, so common among the Jews, are much less so with us. We have however many Adams, particularly in the great communes of Brix and Sottevast, near Valognes. This is accounted for by the fact that many of the lords of those places bore the name of Adam, which was also adopted by their vassals (a practice which still exists in Scotland), as the name of a tribe. The celebrated Walter Scott bore the name of the clan Scott, of which the Duke of Buccleugh is the chief, and what is curious, the duke

seeks his surname in Normandy, and pretends that it was originally l'Escot. (!)

The name of Abraham is rare in Normandy, as is also that of Isaac. Jacob is confounded with Jacques (James). David, Davy, and Daviel are very common; so also is Salomon, and particularly Salmon.

Elie (Elias), Eliot, Liot, and Liard furnish us with many names in Normandy.

If we could ascend to the source of these names we should often find that many of them belong to families of the Jewish race who have become Christians, either through persuasion, or, more frequently, in consequence of the incessant persecutions to which the Jews were exposed during the middle ages, when they were sometimes very numerous in all parts of our province. In the north of the Cotentin we have few large villages, however rural, which have not their Jews' Street (rue des Juifs), which proves at the same time the state of isolation to which they were subjected.

Among our more modern saints, many of our primitive missionaries have given their names to families. Among these names may be reckoned Aubin, Martin, Sanson, Brice, Malo, Ravend.

It may be said, perhaps, that I have made the district of the Cotentin most conspicuous in this subdivision. This should not surprise any; for every one takes by preference the objects which are at hand. I throw down in haste my superficial observations; and every one is at liberty to make the application to the names which are most familiar to him.

I have not as yet said anything of feminine surnames, which have likewise borne a great part in the denomination of our families. Marie would of course