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Re: English girls' names 1250-1450 (G-I)
Why do some end with apostrophes?

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The apostrophe is from the original text, and means that the scribe was abbreviating. Names were almost always recorded in their Latin forms, which added 'a', 'ae' etc at the end of names that wouldn't usually have them. The apostrophe might indicate that the scribe left off the artificial Latin ending... so for example recording an Elisot as Elisot' instead of the Latin, Elisota.
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