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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On Jan 16, 2008, at 3:47 PM, Marjorie Greene wrote: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and > culture > > I have a new grandniece named Julian. Now, before anyone wonders > why I'm announcing this to a list of learned listeners (really > "readers," but why ruin an abomination of alliteration?), I told my > brother that his son's new daughter might have difficulties because > "Julian" is a male name. And then I thought "Julian of > Norwich." (You don't need to know that, for years, I thought this > was a man.) I dogpiled J of N and discovered that some sites state > that "Julian" might not have been her real name, that she was > called thus b/c she camped out near the church of Saint Julian. > Moreover, I found her referred to as: Julian; Juliana; Julian(a). > If anyone has any info, I'd like to read it. I don't mean to sound > lazy or ungrateful, but I don't need references. I have no access > to a scholarly library nearby and my former U has cut off J-STOR to > retirees. If anyone has an article or such in his/her files, please > send by attachment OFF LIST. > Note that this falls under the rubric of "idle curiosity" so please > don't waste time searching for info. I'm looking for something > close at (your) hand and easy to relay. > Thanks in advance, MG The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names says that Julian and its variants Julyan, Juliana and Gillian was actually a fairly common woman's name in England and the Low Countries from about the 12th through the 15th century (along with diminutives like Jill, Juet(te), Gillot and Juliet). It fell into disrepute in England in the 16th century, when it had become the conventional name for a flirt -- and according to the book, that's where the word "jilt" came from. In the 18th century the Latin Juliana became the more common form. Modern ears are also thrown off by the fact that we don't expect names ending in -an to be female: Christian, Adrian, Jonathan, Sebastian, Brian, Darian. (OTOH, there's Lillian and Marian, both female.) ____________________________________________________________ O Chris Laning <[log in to unmask]> - Davis, California + http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com ____________________________________________________________ ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html