by AElfwyn aet Gyrwum
(Jodi McMaster, jmcmaste@accd.edu)
©
1999 Jodi McMaster, all rights reserved. Updated 2005.
The Canterbury Freeman's Rolls of 1298-1363 include many women's names, a rather unusual feature for documents of this period. The women's names appear because one of the ways to qualify for admission as a freeman was to be married to the daughter of a freeman. A total of 230 freemen were admitted by marriage during this 65 year period, 26% of the total admissions (892). In the earlier documents, the names of the wives were not usually listed in the records. Beginning in 1344-45, the names appear regularly.
All the feminine names appear in Latinized forms. In many cases, the underlying English name can be recovered by dropped the Latin ending -a or -ia, or by replacing it with a final -e. I have spelled them as they appear in the records. They are sorted alphabetically and by frequency.
Source: Du Boulay, F.R.H., Kent Records: Documents illustrative of Medieval Kentish Society (London: Records Publication Committee of the Kent Archaeological Society 1962).
Here are the women's names sorted alphabetically with the dates they appear beside them.
| Agnes, Angnes | 1345-46, 1349-50, 1357-58 | |
| Alicia | 1344-45, 1345-46, 1349-50, 1350-51, 1355-56, 1361-62 | |
| Anicia | 1349-1350 | Editor's Note: This name is probably a scribal or typographical error for Auicia, a normal Latinization of Avice. |
| Cecilia | 1345-46, 1350-51 | |
| Celestina | 1349-1350 | |
| Christiana | 1345-46, 1349-50 | |
| Christina | 1344-45, 1345-46, 1361-62 | |
| Clemencia/Clementia | 1349-1350, 1355-56 | |
| Custancia | 1362-63 | |
| Desiderata | 1345-46 | |
| Dionisia | 1345-46 | |
| Elena | 1357-58 | |
| Elianora | 1345-46 | |
| Emma | 1349-50, 1361-62 | |
| Helewysa | 1302-03, 1356-57, 1361-1362 | |
| Isabella | 1345-46, 1349-50, 1357-58 | |
| Johanna | 1344-45, 1345-46, 1349-5, 1355-58, 1361-62 | |
| Juliana | 1344-45, 1345-46, 1349-50, 1357-58 | |
| Katerina | 1349-1350 | |
| Leticia, Letticia, Letitia | 1344-45, 1349-50, 1356-57, 1361-62, 1362-63 | |
| Lora | 1349-1350 | |
| Magota | 1355-56 | |
| Margeria | 1349-50, 1362-63 | |
| Margareta | 1357-58, 1362-63 | |
| Mariota | 1357-58 | |
| Martha | 1344-45 | |
| Mathilda | 1356-57 | |
| Nichola | 1344-45 | |
| Sarra | 1345-46 | |
| Wymarda | 1350-51 |
There are a total of 30 different names for 94 different individuals, listed here from most popular to least, with the number of times it appeared.
| Johanna | 19 |
| Alicia | 13 |
| Agnes, Angnes | 8 |
| Christina/Christiana | 7 |
| Juliana | 6 |
| Leticia/Letticia/Letitia | 5 |
| Isabella | 4 |
| Helewysa | 3 |
| Margeria | 3 |
| Margareta/Magota | 3 |
| Cecilia, Clemencia/Clementia, Dionisia, Emma, Sarra | 2 times each |
| Anicia, Celestina, Custancia, Desiderata, Elena, Elianora, Katerina, Lora, Mariota, Martha, Mathilda, Nichola, Wymarda | 1 time each |