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ArchivesRe: Valmay, etc
in reply to a message by Anneza
Could Valmy possibly have something to do with the Battle of Valmy?
http://www.standin.se/fifteen14a.htm
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=NG2964
I know that many have claimed that there were girls named Alma after the Battle of Alma in the Crimean War. It seems that the Battle of Valmy would be something parents who were anti-monarchist might want to commemorate in the name of a daughter. The name was used in France itself in the early 20th century, thought it was rare. I can't find any statistics online on just when in the 19th century or before the first French Valmy was born, however. Perhaps Lumia could help with that.
http://www.standin.se/fifteen14a.htm
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=NG2964
I know that many have claimed that there were girls named Alma after the Battle of Alma in the Crimean War. It seems that the Battle of Valmy would be something parents who were anti-monarchist might want to commemorate in the name of a daughter. The name was used in France itself in the early 20th century, thought it was rare. I can't find any statistics online on just when in the 19th century or before the first French Valmy was born, however. Perhaps Lumia could help with that.
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Replies
It seems that Valmy (masculin in French, not feminin) was really used after the battle in 1792, when revolutionary names were usual (if some one is interested in a general review about some aspects of the revolutionary onomastics, I can look for the reference and put it here). The battle of Valmy was very present in people's minds:
"(25) Un certain nombre de batailles peuvent justifier ce prénom : Valmy, 22 septembre 1792 ; (...)
http://www.genebourgogne.org/bourgogne/revue/80/revolu_p.htm"
I don't know exactly when (if in 1792 immediately after the battle, in 1793 or later) and where (Paris, Reims...) the trend was started, but I found that Valmy Féaux (former Belgian minister) wrote a book about the subject: Valmy, bataille et prénom. The bond between the battle and the use of the name seems clear.
Perhaps someone in Belgium could check the book in a library.
"(25) Un certain nombre de batailles peuvent justifier ce prénom : Valmy, 22 septembre 1792 ; (...)
http://www.genebourgogne.org/bourgogne/revue/80/revolu_p.htm"
I don't know exactly when (if in 1792 immediately after the battle, in 1793 or later) and where (Paris, Reims...) the trend was started, but I found that Valmy Féaux (former Belgian minister) wrote a book about the subject: Valmy, bataille et prénom. The bond between the battle and the use of the name seems clear.
Perhaps someone in Belgium could check the book in a library.
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Thank you! I thought I had read the possibility of the name being related to the battle somewhere but couldn't find it. I'm glad to know I remembered that correctly. :)
I think that though the name is masculine in French, its -y ending would have made it vulnerable to switching to feminine in a country like South Africa.
I think that though the name is masculine in French, its -y ending would have made it vulnerable to switching to feminine in a country like South Africa.
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True! Years ago there was a prominent cricketer who was known as Lorrie Wilmott; it turned out that his given name was not Lawrence as might have been imagined but Lorraine; it was a name commemorating warfare, and only connected with the fem. name in that way. Something of a 'Boy Named Sue' situation ... and South Africans are notoriously bad at French.
So Valmay/Valmae/Valmy could well go that far back: another thing that South Africans do is use family names for generations. But ... our links with France go back to the Huguenots, who rapidly became assimilated, so we'd have to assume a very politically alert naming population at work in the 1790s. Generally speaking, of course, Afrikaans South Africans would have tended to support France, the Batavian Republic etc against England ... but only once England had become a colonial power here, which was in 1802 for the first time. I really doubt whether monarchy mattered to them at that time, especially someone else's! Their subsequent republican stance was basically part of their anti-Englishness: they didn't mind the Dutch monarchy at all, or the Kaiser!
Are there any instances of Valmay/Valmae/Valmy being used as a given name elsewhere in the English-speaking world? It would be interesting to know.
My sister-in-law was named Valerie in the early 1940s, but her parents dithered between Valerie and Valmae for her; clearly they liked Val as a nickname and weren't sure which 'long' form of it they preferred. It was just a question of the sound of the name; no connections at all.
This has been really interesting: thanks to you and Lumia.
So Valmay/Valmae/Valmy could well go that far back: another thing that South Africans do is use family names for generations. But ... our links with France go back to the Huguenots, who rapidly became assimilated, so we'd have to assume a very politically alert naming population at work in the 1790s. Generally speaking, of course, Afrikaans South Africans would have tended to support France, the Batavian Republic etc against England ... but only once England had become a colonial power here, which was in 1802 for the first time. I really doubt whether monarchy mattered to them at that time, especially someone else's! Their subsequent republican stance was basically part of their anti-Englishness: they didn't mind the Dutch monarchy at all, or the Kaiser!
Are there any instances of Valmay/Valmae/Valmy being used as a given name elsewhere in the English-speaking world? It would be interesting to know.
My sister-in-law was named Valerie in the early 1940s, but her parents dithered between Valerie and Valmae for her; clearly they liked Val as a nickname and weren't sure which 'long' form of it they preferred. It was just a question of the sound of the name; no connections at all.
This has been really interesting: thanks to you and Lumia.
1