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I'm also inclined to agree with you due in part to Devonelisa's notes and to the habit of hypercorrection in French. Such as:
RENAUD for REYNOLD
ARNAUD for ARNOLD
GERAUD for GERALD

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You're right, it does sound rather French, likely from a Latin (Aegidinus?) or Germanic (Giselland?) root name. Now an '-and' suffixed name becoming '-aud' in French is a bit of a stretch, but not unexplainable. The next best place to look are the low-German languages. Dutch and Flemish frequently morph a name unrecognizable and then might add a Latin '-us' suffix later.

I'm inclined to side with you - for one thing the -dus ending points to Latin and old records were typically kept in Latin, the language of the high church, simply because the scribes (clerks) were often clerics of the church or church trained. It was common practice in the Middle Ages, and lasted for centuries, to record a Latin name on the birth or baptismal certificate even if it was never used in day-to-day life or to Latinize names that didn't have an original Latin form. Taking the Latin record-keeping one step further, J doesn't exist, it would be Ilaudus or Ilandus or the convoluted and confusing Iilandus. Also, I've seen very old records where the written G has so flourished a 'tail' that it looks very much like a J. So adding it all up I'd say Gilandus and some clerk doing some freelance Latinizing of Giles, is most likely.

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But then to play devil's advocate, you do have the precendent of Iulianus/Julianus/Julian/Jilian/Gilian and the English trial that separated Julian from Gillian. Hard to call without supporting documentation of some kind that would give origin, etc. clues of the babe in question.

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Devon

Can't help at all - sorry! Interesting search, though ...

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And I'd stay away from Kalabarians.com if you want facts rather than entertainment.

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