Naming Construction and Patterns
From Laurel staff
This article covers the construction and patterns in names for the vast majority of European languages.  In some cases, the best we can do is provide links to other articles that discuss these language in detail.  However, for most of these languages, this article is an easy, no-photocopy reference for how to put together the name elements you may find in other articles or books into a well-formed, period name.  It also gives a comprehensive overview of the types of bynames that are known in each language.
Bynames in many of these languages require grammatical changes to elements. Those changes are not explained here; refer to the listed sources for instructions on creating the correct forms. Each element within this construction must still be documented.  Any grammatical changes must be documented as well. 
A note on using these tables:
Languages are organized by regional naming pools.  For example, Occitan is under French, Portuguese is under Iberian, and so on.
In the tables below, name patterns are written using a consistent system: 
•	N is the given name of the person bearing the name in the nominative case.
•	B, C, etc. are the given names of relatives or ancestors of the person bearing the name. 
•	X is used to indicate a place name or region; Y is used to indicate a generic toponym (e.g., 'the woods' or 'the dell'); Z is used to indicate the charge or other name in an inn-sign type location (e.g., star or lion).
•	Unmarked means "using the element – location, father's name, etc. – in an unmodified form as a byname;" marked for bynames means using a term such as "son" or "daughter" often with a modified form of the father's name.  Using a modified form of the father's name without any other marker is labeled as "genitive alone."
•	In "order," byname means "any byname described to the left." Pat =  patronymic byname; Loc = locative byname
For example, N filius B would be 'N, the son of B' or 'N, B's son'. N de X would be "N from X".
Boxes that are unmarked or patterns not listed require further documentation to use that pattern.  "Rare" means that such names are sufficiently rare that a constructed, as opposed to attested version, of such a byname generally requires the help of an expert in that language to determine if it is plausible.
Arabic
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Arabic	No	Adjectival; al-[adjectival form of place name].	For men ibn B "son of B"
For women bint B "daughter of B"	Multi-generational patronymics; Abū B and Umm B (where B is the child’s name)	al-[occupation or description or ethnic group]	No	Yes	Multiple possible variations; see articles below for more information	
Notes: Locative and descriptive bynames must match the gender of the person described; see articles below for more details.
Diacritics (long marks, emphatic marks, etc.) may be used or omitted as long as it is done consistently.
Additional Information: Juliana de Luna, "Arabic Names from al-Andalus" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/alandalus/) and Da'ud ibn Auda, "Period Arabic Names and Naming Practices" (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/arabic-naming2.htm) 
Baltic
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Lithuanian, Latvian, etc.	Late; 14th cen. and after		Yes; N B sūnus			Late; 14th cen. and after		given+patronymic
given+alias+given
given+alias+given+pat	
Note: In late period, some other family names are found, are beyond the scope of this article, and so must be documented individually.
Dutch
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Dutch, Frisian, etc.	No	Phrase; van X, van den Y or van derY,  	Marked;
genitive alone, or unmarked (see notes)	Brother, wife	May use article de/den/der/die or may omit it	Early (see Latinized names for details)	Yes; second byname usually a locative	given+byname
given+patronymic+loc	
Notes:  Bynames based on relationship can be formed with Latinized particles, or with their Dutch counterparts, such as sone/soen/zoen/zone ‘son’, broeder ‘brother’, dochter ‘daughter’, and wijf ‘wife’ (usually with the relative’s name in the genitive case). Bynames of relationship are also formed with the father's name unmodified or placed in the genitive form.
Additional Information: Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Names from Dutch Records Between 1584-1585" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch/vandermeulen.html).
English/Welsh
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Old English	No	Phrase (æt X or of X)	Marked, unmarked		Rare	Yes; using Cognomento		given+byname	
Middle/ Early Modern
English	Late	All forms: Phrase (de X, of X, atte Y, de la/del Y); unmarked, adjectival, inn sign (atte Z, of the Z)	Marked, genitive alone, unmarked	Matronymic, many others, marked and unmarked	Yes, may use article the/le or omit it.	Yes; marked	Yes; all patterns late (generally unmarked)	given+byname
given+byname+loc
given+patronym+descrip
given+byname+byname	
Anglicized Irish	No		Marked, multi-generation	Clan names	Rare		Yes	given+byname
given+pat+pat
given+patronym+clan	
Welsh	Late	Phrase, unmarked	Marked, unmarked,
multiple		Yes		Yes	given+byname
given+pat+pat	
Scots		Phrase (as in English),
unmarked	Marked (with Mac or as in English), unmarked	As in English only	Yes		Yes	given+pat+ loc
given+pat+pat
given+pat+descriptive	
Notes: Old English: Patronymics take form of X sunu/sune or Xdohtor (X is father's name in genitive); they must match the given name's gender. Alternately, they may follow the Latinized patterns. Locatives use æt or of followed by the placename in dative form. See the introduction to Reaney and Wilson A Dictionary of English Surnames for more details.
Middle/Early Modern English: Marked patronymics may use Fitz X or Xson; women may use these or use Xdaughter.  These forms may all use the father's name unmodified; Xson and Xdaughter may also use the possessive form.  Alternately, they may follow the Latinized patterns. Late period family names tend to drop articles and prepositions. See the introduction to Reaney and Wilson A Dictionary of English Surnames for more details.
Anglicized Irish: For more details of how patronymic bynames are marked Mari ingen Briain meic Donnchada, "Names Found in Anglicized Irish Documents" ( http://medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnglicizedIrish/). 
Welsh: For more details, see Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn "A Simple Guide to Constructing 13th Century Welsh Names" (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/welsh13.html) and "A Simple Guide to Constructing 16th Century Welsh Names" (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/welsh16.html).
Scots: See Black Surnames of Scotland for more details.
French
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Frankish									
French	Late	Phrase (see notes), unmarked, or inn sign name	Marked, unmarked are more common	widow, other	Yes; may use article le, la, l', les or un/une or omit it	Yes; usually combining surnames  using dit	Yes; second byname is usually locative; double surnames are rare	given+by
given+byname+locative
given+byname dit byname	
Occitan/
Provençal	Late	Phrase (see notes),
unmarked	Marked, unmarked	widow, other	Yes; may use article le, la, li, l', les or un/une or omit it	Yes; usually combining surnames  using alias	Yes; but rare for men; second name usually locative	given+byname
given+byname+locative
given+byname alias byname	
Notes: All patterns in Frankish must be documented.  
Acute accents may be written or omitted, as long as they are used consistently.  Other diacritics must be documented to be used, as they were rare in period. Capitalization patterns are inconsistent, but combinations of lower and uppercase elements must be documented.
French: Locatives may be derived from place names, in the form de X (or d'X, if X starts with a vowel); from generic toponyms, with du X, de la X, or des X; or from signs, with au Z, à la Z, or aus/aux Z.
Occitan: Marked locatives look like those from French; inn sign names have not been found in Occitan to date.
Gaelic
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Pictish			Marked; mac B or filius B "son of B"; 
filia B "daughter of B"	nephew, nepos B				given+by	
Oghamic (c.500-c.700)	No		Marked; maqqas B "son of b"; 
inigena B "daughter of B		Descriptive	No		given+byname	
Old/Middle Gaelic 
(before c.1200)	No	Rare	Marked; mac B "son of B"; 
ingen B "daughter of B"	Clan affiliation; two-generation patronymics; "wife of" for women	Descriptive; rarely occupational	No	Multi-generational, descriptive and patronymic	Varied; see articles below	
Early Modern Gaelic 
(after c.1200)	No	Rare	Marked; mac B "son of B";
inghean B "daughter of B"	Clan affiliation; two-generation patronymics; "wife of" for women	Descriptive; rarely occupational	No	Multi-generational, descriptive and patronymic	Varied; see articles below	
Scots Gaelic	No	Rare	marked; mac B "son of B";
ingen or inghean B "daughter of B"	Two-generation patronymics; "wife of" for women	Descriptive; rarely occupational	No	Multi-generational, descriptive and patronymic	given+pat
given+descrip+pat
given+pat+descrip
given+pat+pat	
Notes: Pictish: Please refer to Tangwystl verch Mogrant Glasvryn, "A Consideration of Pictish Names" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/pictnames/).
Oghamic: Please refer to Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, Index of Names in Irish Annals (http://medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/).
Old/Middle Gaelic: For appropriate spellings, refer to Mari Elspeth nic Bryan , Index of Names in Irish Annals (http://medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/). For structure, please refer to Effric Neyn Ken3ocht Mcherrald, "Quick and Easy Gaelic Names" (http://medievalscotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/). 
Early Modern Gaelic: Please refer to Effric Neyn Ken3ocht Mcherrald, "Quick and Easy Gaelic Names" (http://medievalscotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/) for more details on Gaelic names. 
Scots Gaelic: Please refer to Effric Neyn Ken3ocht Mcherrald, "A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names" (http://medievalscotland.org/scotnames/simplescotgaelicnames12.shtml).
All patronymics are created using the genitive form of the father’s name. Byname elements may need to have their spelling modified to soften the pronunciation (lenited) or change the grammar.  For guidance on when lenition is required, please refer to Effric Neyn Ken3ocht Mcherrald, "The Spelling of Lenited Consonants in Gaelic" (http://medievalscotland.org/scotlang/lenition.shtml).
Accents may be used or omitted as long as it is done consistently. Capitalization is inconsistent in period records, but must match a period pattern.

German
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
German	Yes	Adjectival (common), marked, and inn signs	Unmarked, rarely marked	Women may use feminine form (see notes)	Yes; usually without articles	Early (see Latinized names)	Rare; second byname is usually locative or descriptive	given+byname
given+byname+locative
given+byname+descript	
Notes:  Locatives based on place names use the forms von X; generic toponymics use vom Y, or another form of der; the form de X is found before about 1300.  Locatives based on generic toponyms, house names or inn-sign names use the form  zum Z.
Women commonly used a feminized form of their husband’s or father’s surname, either by adding the suffix –in/-yn, or used a genitive form ending in –s/-z or -en. Unmodified surnames were also used.  Further discussion of women’s bynames can be found in Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Women's Surnames in 15th- and 16th-Century Germany" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/german/womenssurnames.html).
Greek:   Please refer to Bardas Xiphias, "Personal Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the Later Byzantine Era" (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/byzantine/introduction.html).  All patterns documented in this article are registerable.

Hungarian/Romanian
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Hungarian		Adjectival (vernacular), phrase (de X), unmarked (Latinized)	Unmarked, rarely marked (as B-fi)	metronymics (late period); wife (see notes)	Yes; without articles			byname+given (vernacular)
given+byname (Latinized)	
Romanian		Phrase, adjectival (see article)	See notes		Yes			given+byname	
Notes: Hungarian: Women often have marital bynames that add –ne to her husband's complete name. See Walraven van Nijmegen, "Hungarian Names 101" (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/magyarnames1012.html) or various articles by Kolosvari Arpadne Julia in the KWHSS Proceedings for more details. 
Romanian: See Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Names from the Royal Lines of Moldavia and Wallachia" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/other/romanian.html) for more details.  The article does not document patronymic bynames, but that appears to be an artifact of the (royal) data.
Iberian
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Castilian (Spanish)	Late	Phrase (de X;  del Y or de la Y), unmarked; adjectival	Marked (see notes), unmarked		Yes; usually without article		Yes; second byname usually locative	given+byname
given+pat+locative
given+byname+locative
given+pat+descriptive	
Catalan	Yes	Phrase (de X, del Y or de la Y), adjectival	Unmarked or marked as in Castilian	viuda "widow"	Yes; usually without article	alias with two bynames	Yes; second byname usually locative	given+byname
given+given+byname
given+byname+locative	
Basque									
Portuguese		Phrase (de X, da X, do X, d'X)	Marked (see notes), unmarked		Yes; usually without article		Yes; second byname usually locative	given+byname
given+pat+locative	
Notes: Castilian: A patronymic byname may be Latinized (filius B) or in the vernacular, usually formed by adding –ez to the father's name (and dropping terminal –o).  Patronyms may also be formed by using an unmodified version of the father’s name. For more details see Elsbeth Anne Roth, "16th Century Spanish Names" (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~kvs/heraldry/spanish16/) or Juliana de Luna "Spanish Names from the Late 15th Century" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/isabella/).
Catalan: For further details see Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Catalan Names from the 1510 census of Valencia" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/spanish/valencia1510.html), especially the surname section.
Basque: All patterns in Basque must be documented; Basque names often closely resemble Castilian or Catalan names.
Portuguese: A patronymic byname may be Latinized (filius B) or in the vernacular, usually formed by adding –ez to the father's name (and dropping terminal –o).  Patronyms may also be formed by using an unmodified version of the father’s name or as de B or d'B (when the father's given name starts with a vowel). See Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Portuguese Names from Lisbon, 1565" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/portuguese/lisbon1565.html) for more details.
Italian
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Italian	Yes; triple names very late	Phrase (see notes), unmarked, Latinized	Marked (as di B), multi-generational, unmarked, Latinized	Family names (see notes), matronymics (as di B)	Yes; rarely use articles	Early, Latinized only	Yes; patronymic bynames in these patterns are generally marked with di 	given+byname
given+pat+pat
given+pat+family
given+pat+locative
given+family+locative	
Notes:  Italian is incredibly variable in period, with names from Venice, Tuscany, and the south all significantly different. For Venice, see Juliana de Luna, "Names from 16th Century Venice" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/16thcvenice.html). For Tuscany see Juliana de Luna, "Names in 15th Century Florence and her Dominions: the Condado" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/condado/) and Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Names from Arezzo, Italy, 1386-1528" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/italian/arezzo.html). For the south, see Aryanhwy merch Catmael "Names from 15th Century Naples" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/italian/naples.html). Latinized patronymic bynames usually are just the father's name in the genitive form, without filius/filiaI.
Locative bynames in the northern and central areas normally take the form da X, but de X and di X are rarely found.  Generic toponymics take the form della/dalla/dello/dallo Y. In the south, de X and di X are far more common.
Family names typically modify a patronym or byname by removing the last vowel (if there is one) and adding –i. Unmodified forms are found as well.
Jewish
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Hebrew	No		Marked; multi-generational	Tribe name (men only), like ha Levi	ha [noun], feminized for women		Multi-generation patronymic	given+byname
given+pat+pat	
Vernacular		(see notes)	(see notes)		(see notes)		Multi-generation patronymic	given+byname	
Notes: Jews lived in a location where a vernacular was spoken (German, Arabic, etc.)  Men generally had a Hebrew language name and a vernacular name. The vernacular name may be the equivalent of their Hebrew name or an unrelated vernacular name.  Women generally had vernacular names only (often the same as local naming pool). 
Hebrew: Patronymic bynames are formed using ben B "son of B," and bat B (Sephardic) or basB (Ashkenazic) "daughter of B"
Vernacular: Vernacular bynames often follow the Hebrew forms (so mostly patronymic), but are generally written following the standards for the local vernacular.  Occasionally, the particles are transliterated from the Hebrew (e.g., "N filius B ben C" in a Latin document). Other kinds of bynames (especially locative bynames and the byname meaning "Jew" in the vernacular) are found as well.
Latinized:   Latinized names are not a single thing; they must follow the rules of the naming pool from which they are taken. 
Bynames based on relationships can be marked with Latinized particles such as filius 'son', filia 'daughter', uxor 'wife', and relicta 'widow'.  These are usually followed by the Latinized form of the person in the genitive case, though sometimes the name is not declined. 
Locatives can use the preposition de 'of/from,' despite the fact that such usage was not proper in classical Latin.  In this case, the locative may be Latinized, but is often left in its vernacular form. 
In the early Middle Ages, a second given name is often used as a byname; it is preceded by a term like alias, dictus, or cognomento. In later usage, two bynames will often be connected by these same terms.
Mongol:  Mongol names are quite different in structure from European names. All patterns documented in Baras-aghur Naran, "On the Documentation and Construction of Period Mongolian Names" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/baras-aghur/mongolian.html) are registerable.
North Slavic
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Polish		Phrase, adjectival (see notes)	Marked, Unmarked (see notes)	Brother, wife, widow	Rare		Yes; patronymic + locative (N B-ówna z X). 	given+byname
given+pat+locative	
Czech									
Notes:  Polish: In Polish, i/y/j switches are common, and the use of accents is inconsistent. Names will be registered with or without accents as long as they are consistent.
In Polish, bynames based on relationships can be marked with Latinized particles or with their Polish vernacular equivalents, such as B syn 'B's son', B brat 'B's brother', B żona 'B's wife', and B wdowa 'B's widow'. Alternately, the relationship could be indicated by a suffix added to their relative's name, such as Bwic(z)/Bwicc ('son of B') or Byk/Bik ('little B', forming a diminutive).  Women's bynames use feminine forms. Most frequently, patronyms are changed by adding the diminutive suffix –ina/-yna, or by adding–ówa (married name) or –ówna (maiden name), making Bina or Bówa. What look like double given names may well be unmarked patronymic bynames.
Locative bynames in Polish-language documents normally take the preposition z/ze 'from/of', followed by the place name in the genitive case. Alternately, an adjectival form can be created by adding –ski for men or –ska for women to the location's name in its grammatically required form.
Czech: All patterns in Czech must be documented. Academy of Saint Gabriel report 3244 (http://www.s-gabriel.org/3244.txt) gives some leads for documenting Czech forms.
Persian: Persian name structures are quite different from European name structures. All patterns found in Ursula Georges, "Persian Masculine Names in the Nafah.ât al-uns" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ursula/nafahat/) are registerable. The most common structure is a single given name followed by a locative byname derived from the adjectival form of a placename (usually adding – î to the placename for both men and women). Descriptive bynames are also found. A few examples of women's bynames (all locative) can be found in Aryanhwy merch Catmael and Ursula Georges, "Persian Feminine Names from the Safavid Period" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ursula/persian.html).
Romany:  Romany are known to have used two names: a private name used only in their community, and a vernacular use name, used in interactions with locals.  We do not currently have evidence of the elements or structure of private names before 1600; without such evidence they cannot be registered.  In general, forming a name appropriate for the desired region/language where a Romany persona is living (e.g., "A from X") follows period usage.
Russian/East Slavic:  All patterns found in Paul Wickenden of Thanet's "A Dictionary of Period Russian Names" (http://heraldry.sca.org/paul/) and "Locative Bynames in Medieval Russia" (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/toprus.html) are registerable.
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Russian	Yes; one Christian, one Slavic	Adjectival, rarely other forms	Marked (see notes)	Matronymics, wife	Yes		Yes; multiple patronymics (or patronymic from father's whole name)	(see notes)	
Other		(see notes)							
Notes: Russian: The construction of Russian bynames is complicated; see Paul Wickenden of Thanet's "A Dictionary of Period Russian Names" (http://heraldry.sca.org/paul/) for structures both of individual bynames and for names as a whole. His and "Locative Bynames in Medieval Russia" (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/toprus.html) is also useful for constructing locative bynames.
Other East Slavic languages, like Ukranian and Belorussian, follow similar patterns to Russian, but are beyond the scope of this article; their formation needs to be individually documented.

Scandinavian
	Double Given Names	Locative	Patronymic	Other relationship	Descriptive/
Occupational	Dictus	Double Bynames	Order	
Old Norse/
Old Icelandic	No	Phrase, adjectival; see notes	Marked; -son or -dóttir added to the genitive of father’s name	Two-generation patronymic; Bson Csonar, wife (Bkona)	Descriptive, occupational are rare		Descriptive byname + patronymic or two-generation patronymic	given+by
given+descriptive+pat
given+pat+descriptive
given+pat+pat	
Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Icelandic, etc.		Phrase, adjectival; see notes	Marked; Bson or Bsen using genitive of father’s name; see notes for feminine	Wife (using the genitive form of the husband's name)	Rare			given+by	
Notes:  For Old Norse/Old Icelandic, see Geirr Bassi Haraldsson's The Old Norse Name and in Lindorm Eriksson's "The Bynames of the Viking Age Runic Inscriptions" are registerable. See Lindorm's article for more information on locative bynames.
Accents and other diacritics (like þ, ð, and {o,}) may be used or omitted, as long as the system is consistent.
For Old Norse/Old Icelandic, by precedent, prepended bynames (nicknames that precede the given name) are capitalized, but nicknames that follow the given name are not.
For later Scandinavian languages (Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Icelandic, etc., the feminine forms of patronymics are variable.  Swedish forms include Bdotter, Bdotther, Bdottir, and Bdatter, while Danish forms include Bdother, Bdotter, Bdaatter, Bdaater, and Bdaather. Other forms must be documented.
Locative bynames take the form i X in Swedish, af X in Danish, for example. The placenames must be grammatically correct forms to follow those prepositions.
For details of construction in Swedish, see http://www.s-gabriel.org/2296. Swedish: Wife (using genitive form of husband's given or full name)
South Slavic (Serbian, Croatian, etc.):  All patterns must be documented. Our sources for South Slavic names are quite limited. One useful source is Walraven van Nijmegen, "Early Croatian Given Names" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/walraven/croat/), which documents the pattern of a single given name followed by a single patronymic byname which is either the father's name unchanged or a construction formed by adding –ov, -ovic. Other sources suggest –ic may sometimes be used to construct a patronymic byname. 

Turkish:  Turkish names are quite different from European names; they are somewhat like Arabic names, but do not follow all Arabic patterns. One useful source is Ursula Georges, "Sixteenth-Century Turkish Names" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ursula/ottoman/).