What is a good name for a tomboy princess in medieval times for a book?

Answer 1

One opinion

Heretic, demon or witch would be good names. The Church would have been completely horrified at the idea of a woman (any woman) behaving like a male, which is what "tomboy" implies. Women were expected to fit into a certain type of feminine behaviour and anything outside that would be considered unchristian, sacrilegious, a profanity and an abomination. The idea of a tomboy is modern and very American in origin, with nothing at all to do with medieval Europe.

Christian doctrine governed everyone's life and behaving outside the prescribed ideal would likely get you burned at the stake.

A horrified cleric was present at the entry of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine when she rode into Constantinople during the Second crusade, dressed in armour and riding astride like a man - anyone other woman doing this would have been arrested and tried under Canon Law.

Another opinion

A tomboy princess should have a girl's name, but you should find the sorts of names used at the time in the Middle Ages your medieval princess lived. Here are a few suggestions.

There is a legend of Veborg, who was a shieldmaiden and fought in the Battle of Bråvalla. (Sweden, 8th century)

Charlemagne married a woman who had been a soldier, and fought in a battle against his army. Her name was Fastrada. (France, 8th century)

Queen Ethelfleda of Mercia was considered a military genius and soundly defeated armies of Vikings. (England, 9th century)

Freydís Eiríksdóttir, a Viking woman, took part in the exploration of Vinland. (Scandinavia, 11th century)

Princess Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd leads an army against the English, but was killed. (Wales, 12th century)

Eleanor of Aquitaine was the duchess and queen who went on crusades, commanding a company of women soldiers. (France and England, 12th century)

Tamar of Georgia was crowned king, and led her kingdom to its greatest military importance. When she married, her husband did not receive authority. (Georgia, 12th century)

Isabella of Aragon went on crusades. (Spain, 13th century)

Agnes Dunbar was a Scottish countess who successfully defended a castle against an English army. (Scotland, 14th century)

Hedwig (in Polish, Jadwiga) was a Polish queen who was crowned, like Tamar, as a king, just so everyone would be quite aware of the fact that she was the boss. (Poland, 14th century)

Sabina von Steinbach was a mason and sculptor of considerable importance. (Germany, 14th century)

Joan of Arc, of course, was a French girl who was given control of the French army at the age of seventeen. (France, 14th century)

I got most of these from an article on women in warfare and the military in the medieval era, to which there is a link below. A couple names came from lists of people in royal families, which also are linked below.

Other names might be found by looking at listings of monarchs of the time and place you are interested in. Some that come to mind are Irene and Zoe, for Greek women of just about any time; and Matilda or Maud for English women after the Norman invasion.

There is a link to a related question below, one answer of which goes into detail about what medieval women did. Many of them would have been considered tomboys today, and these not only included crusaders, but other soldiers, carpenters, masons, queens regnant, and world travelers. There is a fair amount of documentation linked from this question, for further study.