"So you want to bear an authentic Norman name?"

  1. Dirty Chai
    Dirty Chai
    Taken from the Taleworlds Subforum for the Mount & Blade Warband mod "Vikingr"

    For many, authentic names are one of the best ways to enhance the level of immersion of Víkingr. An English eorl called Eadric is more believable than one called Tim, a jarl should be Björn rather than hax0r_pwner and we’ll all agree Ualrach is a better Gael name than Celtichugs. Those who want Old English names have it easy, as there’s a great thread to help them out. Old Norse is not hard either, thanks to the many vernacular sources. For Old Irish, Old East Slavic and Old Norman names, however, there’s not a lot of period-appropriate information around here. The Nafngift thread is an excellent place to start, but I feel faction-specific threads that focus on each faction’s unique issues would be nice. So, here’s my contribution. Special thanks to Eadric for his help, and also to several Old French professors who I’m not sure would like to be listed here!

    Disclaimer: all of this is subject to change if new information surfaces and I spot a mistake. There's one or two things I'm not too confident about, but there's still a few leads open.

    THE NORMANS

    ON THE LINGUISTIC SITUATION OF VÍKINGR-ERA NORMANDY
    At the time the Normans settled, the area that would become Normandy apparently had a larger Frankish population than many other regions of modern France. While these Franks already spoke a Romance language, their names had a West Germanic form. It would seem the Norse settlers largely adapted their names to the local (Frankish) variants, so they often fail to display many features of North Germanic or show a mixed form (for example, ON ás [<*ans] appears as os, ans or an in Norman names). The process of “translating” or adapting personal names was of course standard practice at the time.

    These Franko-Norse names were naturally subject to the influence and subsequent development of the local Romance language, so by the time we get to the Víkingr era they were pretty French-looking already. One thing should be remembered: unlike OE and ON names, which were still largely transparent to the people who bore them, Norman names had little to do with their everyday tongue. They were purely conventional, like our modern names. While learned scribes and scholars still recognized the meanings and older forms of these names and used them when writing in Latin or other languages (and hence Henri appears as Henricus), that wouldn’t be the case for most people. At their core, these names were foreign words with foreign sounds and structures, and in the process of being adapted into Romance they yielded many divergent forms. Old Norman names were wildly inconsistent in their spelling and, presumably, their pronunciation. For most names here, several variants will be listed, all of which should be appropriate for this period.

    ON NON-GERMANIC NAMES
    One thing I haven't really been able to establish is the prevalence of Latin names in the Norman armies. The Normans, and the Franks before them, were a ruling elite, and it's safe to assume most of their subjects were of Gallo-Roman origin all along, but as I said Normandy seemed to have a particularly large Germanic population, and armies were small. The vast majority of recorded Norman names for this period are Germanic, with the odd Biblical name here and there; Latin and Greek names are quite rare, although they occur. That may not mean much, since the recorded names tend to be those of the ruling elite anyway, but it's probably a sign that Germanic names were more widespread overall.

    ON THE SUBJECT CASE
    Old French had lost all Latin cases except for two: subject and object or oblique. Virtually all male given names took an –s in the subject case, and many modern names descend from that form: Jacques, Hugues, etc. However, Old Norman seems to have been very inconsistent on this front, as in others, and it would seem Germanic names didn’t necessarily use the –s subject ending at the time. It’s possible that this feature was introduced through the influence of continental French at later times, well after the Víkingr era. However, both forms with and without this ending must have been possible at the time. The names in my list don’t have the –s, but if anyone prefers their name to have it, here’s the basic rules:
    - The combinations ts/ds and ls are spelled z and lz: Rollanz, filz.
    - Un-Norman consonantal clusters resulting from adding this –s would be simplified by dropping the final consonant of the stem: Raulf+s > Raulz.

    Some names of non-Germanic origin like Gerveis, Helies and Duranz are already in the subject case. "Weak" names (most of those that end in an unaccented -e, but not names in -elme) are more likely to take the -s ending: e.g. Carles, Eudes.

    ON PATRONYMICS
    A patronymic may be formed by filz, “son” plus the object form of a personal name. For example, the Norman equivalent of my full character name would be Rodbert filz Hubert. Be advised that many names have irregular object forms. For example, the object case of Ive(s) is Ivun.

    ON THE DEFINITE ARTICLE
    The Norman definite article was declined, just like the nouns. The masculine subject form was li (sg. and pl.), the object forms were lu (sg.) and les (pl.). The feminine subject and object forms were la (sg.) and les (pl.). La was elided before a word that began with a vowel (eg. la + armede = l’armede), but li (sg.) often wasn’t, and li (pl.) never was. Combinations of preposition + article tended to be contracted: de + le becomes del.

    As an example, Roland may be called Rollant li proz, “Roland the proud” (note the subject case in proz < prod-s)

    ON FEMALE NAMES
    Víkingr isn’t the real world. Here, women can be commonly found on the battlefield, and they too may want an authentic Norman name. Unfortunately, female names are harder to get by, as they’re not recorded as frequently as male names, and their forms are usually more uncertain. Nevertheless, I included a short separate list of female names too.

    A SELECTION OF COMMON NORMAN NAMES
    Very roughly, the variants for each name are listed in order of likelihood to have appeared in that form in true Norman texts, but all variants should be valid. For an excellent source for Norman names, check this and this, but take into account the forms used there are usually Latin or Modern English/French, not Old Norman.

    By far, the most common of these are: Willelme, Richard, Ro(d)bert, Ro(d)ger and Gi(s)l(e)bert. So common, in fact, that the five of them together add up to roughly 258% of all recorded Norman individuals. Those and other particularly common names are bolded. There's two Breton names which are preceded by an asterisk - they were used in families of mixed heritage, but probably not by the Normans at large at this point. Take this into account when dealing out Norman names among clan mates!

    It is important to note that this is but a shortlist. I only picked 11th century Normans to compile this list because I had to stop somewhere, but you can go beyond that. Check those links above and you'll find earlier Norman and Frankish names, and also later Anglo-Norman names. Most of those should be fine, once properly adapted to 11th century Old Norman "standards". Feel free to pick a name that isn't in this list and then ask what its Norman form would have been.

    Male names:

    Abelard, Abelart
    Ailmar, Ailmer
    *Alan
    Albert
    Albreid, Albrei
    Albri
    Amalri
    Anscher
    An(s)chetil, An(s)quetil, An(s)ketil
    Anselme
    Ansfreid, Ansfrei
    Ansger
    Arnald, Arnold, Arnalt, Arnolt
    Arnost
    Arnulf
    Baldri
    Baldwin, Balduin, Baldewin
    Berenger
    Bernard, Bernart
    Boemund, Boamund, Boemunt, Boamunt
    Croque
    Drogue, Droge
    Duranz
    Engelger
    Engelmar
    Erchembald, Erchembalt, Erkembald, Erkembalt
    Erchenger, Erkenger
    Ernegis
    Esteven
    Eustache, Eustace
    Everard, Everart
    Franc
    Fulbert
    Fulcher
    Fulque, Fulke
    Gerald, Geralt
    Gerard, Gerart
    Gerveis
    Gilebert, Gislebert, Gilbert
    Go(d)(e)bald, Go(d)(e)balt
    Go(d)freid, Gefreid, Gefrei, Gofrei
    Gozelin
    Gozelme
    Grimald, Grimold, Grimalt, Grimolt
    Gundulf
    Gundwin, Gunduin
    Hamelin
    Harald, Harold, Haralt, Harolt
    Hasculf
    Helies
    Helinant, Helinand
    Henri
    Herbert
    Herfast
    Herluin
    Herman
    Hubert, Hugbert
    Hugue, Hug
    Hunfreid, Hunfrei
    Ive
    Jehan
    Jonathan
    Jordan
    Lambert
    Malger
    Maurice
    Mile
    Niel
    Norman
    Ode, Eude
    Oliver
    Osbern
    Osbert
    Osmund, Osmunt
    Radulf, Raulf
    Raimund, Raimunt
    Rainald, Rainalt
    Rainbald, Raimbald, Rainbalt Raimbalt
    Rainer
    Rainulf, Ranulf
    Richard, Richart
    Richer
    Rodald, Rodalt, Roald, Roalt
    Rodbert, Rotbert, Robert
    Rodger, Rotger, Roger

    Rodulf, Roulf
    Romoald, Romoalt
    Seinfreid, Seinfrei
    Sarle, Serle
    Simun
    Tancreid, Tancrei
    Teduin, Tedwin
    Teobald, Tedbald, Tiebald, Teobalt, Tedbalt, Tiebalt
    Terri, Tierri, Tedri
    Turald, Turold, Turalt, Turolt
    Turbern
    Turbert
    Turgis
    Turchetil, Turchil, Turketil
    Turstin
    Turulf
    Walbert
    Walchelin, Walkelin
    Waleri
    Walter
    Warin
    Warinfreid, Warinfrei
    Widmund, Wimund, Widmunt, Wimunt
    Wide, Wie, Wid
    Willelme
    Winebald, Winebalt

    Female names:

    Ade
    Adeliz(e), Adelis(e), Aalis, Aaliz
    Adeline, Aaline
    Adile, Adele
    Agathe
    Agnez, Agnes
    Albreide, Albrei
    Anfreide, Anfrei, Anfrie, Amfreide, Amfrei, Amfrie
    Amiere
    Aveline
    Beatriz
    Berte
    Bilelde, Bilehelde
    Bilende, Bilehende
    Damate, Damete
    Denise
    Dunelme
    Emme
    Eremberge
    Eremburge
    Fredesende, Fresende
    Gerberge
    Gisele, Gisle
    God(e)hilde
    Gozeline
    Gunnore
    Hauise, Haueise, Hawise, Haweise
    Heliarde
    Helisende
    Heloise
    Herleve
    Hildeburge
    Hildegarde
    Isabelle
    Jehanne
    Judith, Judit
    Lezeline
    Mabile, Mabille
    Mathilde, Matilde, Malde
    Merleberge
    *Muriel
    Odoline
    Roese, Rohese
    Rainburge, Raimburge
    Seinfreide, Seinfrie
    Sibylle, Sibille
    Weuve

    If a name is not in the list, but was used by the early Anglo-Normans and is not Old English, it’s probably safe (if in doubt, ask!). Names of Italian Norman individuals are trickier, because it’s harder to tell apart the Old Norman from the Italic elements. For example, Asclettin seems to be a heavily distorted Italian Norman variant of Anschetil. Common French names that were used by the Normans, but for which I couldn’t find any recorded early 11th century Norman individuals, are not in the list – that doesn’t mean you can’t use them if you fancy them, though.

    (Note that Rollo seems to have been a learned Latinized form, not a name in everyday use; the Norse Hrólfr seems to have been replaced by the Frankish Rodulf)

    APPENDIX: ON PRONUNCIATION AND SPELLING
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    Unlike in Modern French, almost all letters should be pronounced – although some of these sounds would most likely be dropped in connected speech even by ca. 1000. The following guideline is by no means exhaustive.

    General notes:
    - Final consonants are devoiced (so Osmund is actually pronounced Osmunt, and often spelled that way). However, if the following word starts with a vowel, this would not apply.
    - A vowel before an m or an n is nasalized, but unlike in Modern French the consonant isn’t dropped.
    - The stress falls on the last syllable, or on the second to last if the last syllable has a weak e. Hence, Rollánt vs Cárles. This is the rule for native Romance words, towards which all names tended in time, and it’s already displayed in the Anglo-Norman Chanson de Roland, which was composed in the late 11th century), but it’s unclear how thoroughly it applied to foreign (Germanic) names in the late 10th and early 11th centuries.
    Vowels:
    - All vowels and diphthongs were pronounced just like they were written (so for example ai is pronounced more or less like English eye), except for unstressed or weak e in final syllables, which is a schwa like the a in English soda, and u, which is silent in qu, gu and otherwise pronounced like Modern French u or German ü, except where it stands for w (eg. Balduin). It’s unclear whether this native pronunciation of u applied consistently to Germanic names.
    Consonants:
    - T: by itself, in final position, it’s pronounced like th in English think but softer. At this time, final t was in the process of being lost and would very often be dropped, especially if the following word started with a consonant. Elsewhere, including in consonantal clusters in final position, it’s like Modern French t.
    - D: in final position, it’s devoiced and behaves just like t (see above). Between vowels it’s pronounced like th in English there but softer and is in the process of being lost, very often being dropped completely. Elsewhere, like Modern French d.
    - The combinations ts/ds are spelled z.
    - C: before e and i it’s pronounced ts. Elsewhere, it’s pronounced like the k in English skull.
    - Ç: a variant of c when it’s pronounced ts before vowels other than e and i.
    - CH: usually it’s pronounced like ch in English church, but it can also note k.
    - G: before e and i, it’s pronounced like English j in jump.
    - Z: pronounced ts.
    - S: between vowels, it’s voiced and pronounced like English z.
    - H: in words of Germanic origin (like names) it was still pronounced in initial position.
    - L: before another consonant, it’s pronounced dark, similar to English. After a and before another consonant it may have become u already by the Víkingr-era.
    - R: trilled (NOT uvular like in Modern French).
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