Catalan Names from 12th and 13th Century Charters

Catalan Names from 12th and 13th Century Charters

by Arval Benicoeur (Josh Mittleman)
mittle@panix.com

updated July 1999. © 1997, 1999 by Joshua D. Mittleman; all rights reserved.


These names are extracted from an on-line collection of 12th and 13th century documents, translated by Paul Freedman of Vanderbilt University. The texts are posted by the AARHMS archive. Prof. Freedman left names in their original forms, so this data represents original spellings.

The collection consists of fifteen documents ranging in date from 1101 to 1269. They include a will, several grants of land, acknowledgements of overlordship, and other legal matters, and are worth reading for a picture of life in medieval Catalonia.

Analysis

The charters mention 156 people by name. 13 are women, 142 are men. The gender of the remaining two names cannot be determined, but context suggests that both are men. Three names are abbreviated G. and one Ans.. These are probably Guillem and some form of Anselm, but I have not counted them in my analysis.

The raw data are presented for each charter, with an added list of place names mentioned in the charters other than those in personal names.

Women's Names

Most women named in charters are identified by given name and relationship to someone else. Two of the 13 women are given locative surnames. After grouping alternate spellings, the data include seven different feminine given names, listed here in order of frequency with the number of examples that occur:

Ermessendis, Ermessèn 4
Guillema, Guillelma 2
Maria 2
Titbores 2
Arsendis 1
Raimunda 1
València 1

Men's Names

The masculine name list offers a more complicated picture, probably just because it is larger. 45 men are recorded without a surname, though most of them are identified also by relationship, office, or occupation. 78 are given locative surnames of the form de + place name. 18 have patronymic surnames in the form of a second given name. Some of these may have been early examples of double given names, but as these would be unusual, I have assumed that they are patronymics. One names is clearly occupational (Fabri), and ten could not be categorized. Eleven men were recorded with double bynames; in all cases, the second byname is locative. The first byname is patronymic in seven names, locative in one name, and occupational in one name; the other two could not be determined.

After grouping alternate spellings, 32 masculine given names are represented in the data. The four most common given names account for 64% of the data.

Several patronymic surnames show evidence of given names which do not otherwise appear in the data. I have not counted those names in the following frequency analysis. They are: Amalric, Bermund, Berenguer, Ermengol, Guifre/Gaufred. A few other names might be patronymics, but these are the ones of which I am certain.

Names Listed by Frequency

Guillem, Guillelmus 26
Pere 25
Ramon 22
Bernat, Bernad 18
Arnau 8
Berenguer 6
Guerau 4
Bertran 3
Amat 2
Andrea 2
Artal 2
Ferrer 2
Ponç 2

These names are used once each: Alfons, Arbert, Bonadona, Calvet, Dalmu, Dolcet, Gilabert, Gombal, Hug, Matthew, Miró, Olivar, Perpinyà, Peter, Ricart, Seguinus, Simon, Thomas, Vidal.

Names Listed Alphabetically

Alfons 1
Amat 2
Andrea 2
Arbert 1
Arnau 8
Artal 2
Berenguer 6
Bernat, Bernad 18
Bertran 3
Bonadona 1
Calvet 1
Dalmu 1
Dolcet 1
Ferrer 2
Gilabert, Guilabertus 1
Gombal 1
Guerau 4
Guillem, Guillelmus 26
Hug 1
Matthew 1
Miró 1
Olivar 1
Pere 25
Perpinyà 1
Peter 1
Ponç 2
Ramon 22
Ricart 1
Seguinus 1
Simon 1
Thomas 1
Vidal 1

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