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).