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Help[Facts] Re: Name project help, please!
in reply to a message by MollyKate
These are either Danish or German names. Gyldenstjerne (Guildenstern) means "golden star". Rosenkrantz (Rosencrantz) means "rose wreath". There are several different spellings of both of these names. This is just some information I found:
Rosenkrantz:
Meaning rose wreath. It is an ashkenazic-ornamental surname (ashkenazic means a Jew of Eastern European or German descent) from the word for flower or metronymic from the Yiddish female given name Royze derived from the word for flower.
http://www.shaksper.net/archives/2001/1434.html
This webpage has a lot more useful information if you want to check it out, but here's part of it:
Rosecrantz and Guildenstern could, indeed, seem to be Jewish names, but they are not. Nor are they 'normal' Danish names. They are anglified versions of the names of the very eminent Danish noble families of 'Rosencrantz' and 'Gyldenstjerne'. The senior members of these families held almost permanent places at the Danish council of the realm (equivalent of the privy council in England) throughout the middle ages and for some time after. It is entirely plausible, therefore, that junior members should have been ambassadors to various courts of Europe. Incidentally, one member of a cadet branch of the Gyldenstjerne family, Sir Andrew Ogard (after the family estate Aagaard in Jutland) emigrated to England, participated in the Hundred Years' War, was knighted by, I think, Henry V, and became the forefather of Rider Haggard.
Rosenkrantz Danish Origins:
There were no family names at the time of Erik the Knight. The name Nielsen simply meant that Erik's father was named Niels; Nielsen translates to Niels' son. In 1525, Frederick I commanded all of the Danish noble families to adopt family names. The descendants of Erik and his brothers adopted the name Rosenkrantz, which means "wreath of roses" in Danish and related Germanic languages. Thus the Rosenkrantz name and its variants are in use today by the descendants of Niels Iversen, Erik's father.
Rosenkrantz:
Meaning rose wreath. It is an ashkenazic-ornamental surname (ashkenazic means a Jew of Eastern European or German descent) from the word for flower or metronymic from the Yiddish female given name Royze derived from the word for flower.
http://www.shaksper.net/archives/2001/1434.html
This webpage has a lot more useful information if you want to check it out, but here's part of it:
Rosecrantz and Guildenstern could, indeed, seem to be Jewish names, but they are not. Nor are they 'normal' Danish names. They are anglified versions of the names of the very eminent Danish noble families of 'Rosencrantz' and 'Gyldenstjerne'. The senior members of these families held almost permanent places at the Danish council of the realm (equivalent of the privy council in England) throughout the middle ages and for some time after. It is entirely plausible, therefore, that junior members should have been ambassadors to various courts of Europe. Incidentally, one member of a cadet branch of the Gyldenstjerne family, Sir Andrew Ogard (after the family estate Aagaard in Jutland) emigrated to England, participated in the Hundred Years' War, was knighted by, I think, Henry V, and became the forefather of Rider Haggard.
Rosenkrantz Danish Origins:
There were no family names at the time of Erik the Knight. The name Nielsen simply meant that Erik's father was named Niels; Nielsen translates to Niels' son. In 1525, Frederick I commanded all of the Danish noble families to adopt family names. The descendants of Erik and his brothers adopted the name Rosenkrantz, which means "wreath of roses" in Danish and related Germanic languages. Thus the Rosenkrantz name and its variants are in use today by the descendants of Niels Iversen, Erik's father.
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