Standard Source "Errata"
Compiled by Jeanne Marie Lacroix, Palimpsest
Updated: November 20, 2025

Occasionally Pelican rules that something in one of the standard sources used by the College of Arms to document a name is not registrable. This generally happens when new sources are discovered and evaluated, or occasionally when no support can be found in other sources for the element. This is an attempt to collect those items in a single place to make it easier for consulting heralds, submitters, and commenters to verify that there is not an issue with a name element. This list is not exhaustive - some existing precedents may have been missed and new elements can be ruled unregistrable at any time as evidence is re-evaluated or new sources have been found. Likewise, a name element that has been ruled unregistrable may become registrable again if new supporting evidence is found.

Aryanhwy merch Catmael, "Viking Bynames found in the Landnámabók" (https://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/norse/vikbynames.html).

1. sjóna. "A recent examination of the original source material used by Geir Bassi did not find the spelling sjóna but instead found the spelling sjóni. The Old Icelandic adjective sjóni is masculine but its feminine counterpart is sjón, not sjóna. ...we will no longer register the Old Norse element sjóna as a feminine form of sjóni." [04/2023 CL]
2. spákona. "Evidence was presented during commentary that the byname spákona was, much like its synonyms v{o,}lva and v{o,}lu, a byname that constitutes a claim to supernatural or magical powers [01/2022 CL]. Per SENA PN4C, we do not register such names. [11/2024 CL]

Bardas Xiphias, "Common Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the 6th and 7th Centuries" (https://heraldry.sca.org/names/byzantine/early_byz_names.html).

1. Helias. "... the given name Helias is a feminine given name. The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names lists two "twin" given names Elias and Helias, where the only difference is whether the initial vowel, in this case, eta, has a rough breathing or a smooth breathing attached to it, leading to two different transliterations. The rough breathing version is transliterated as the feminine name Helias, while the smooth breathing version is transliterated as the masculine name Elias." [Helias Basilou, 12/2024, A-Calontir]

Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland. [Black]

1. Deredere. s.n. Deirdre. "While this spelling does indeed appear in Black, s.n. Deirdre, this appears to be in error. The documented nominative case form in the Annals, which Black cites, is Derder. ... We will not consider this spelling to be attested going forward. [Deredere Turner, 09/2022, A-Meridies]

Geirr Bassi Haraldsson, The Old Norse Name. [Geirr Bassi]

1. Bjarki. Page 8. "As the character Bjarki is not an ordinary human, we will no longer register this given name in an Old Norse context...The name element bjarki, which means 'bear cub', does appear in the sagas as a descriptive byname borne by ordinary humans. Therefore, we will continue to register it as an Old Norse byname...The name element Bjarki does appear as a given name in 15th century Denmark borne by normal humans (Birky/Byærke/Biærke), and continues to be registerable in this context compatible with late period Scandinavian names." [02/2024 CL]
2. Evja. Page 9. "We will no longer register this feminine given name. It is a typographical error for the name Eyja". [12/2023 CL]
3. festagarmr. Page 21. "We will no longer register this descriptive byname; it is not constructed correctly. The correct construction is festargarmr." [12/2023 CL]
4. Kára. Page 12. "... we will no longer register the feminine given name Kára in any Scandinavian language, including Old Norse... The feminine given name Kara remains registerable in English and German, where it is attested in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The spelling Cara is also attested in English and German, and this spelling is found in Spanish and Italian as well." [07/2022 CL]
5. Rauðrefr. Page 26. "First, the byname cited from Geirr Bassi has been demonstrated to be an error; instead of rauðrefr, the documented byname is rauðnefr "red nose." Barring evidence that a byname meaning "red fox" is reasonable, this name cannot be registered." [Sorcha rauðrefr, 05/2012, R-East]
6. sjóna. Page 27. "A recent examination of the original source material used by Geir Bassi did not find the spelling sjóna but instead found the spelling sjóni. The Old Icelandic adjective sjóni is masculine but its feminine counterpart is sjón, not sjóna. ...we will no longer register the Old Norse element sjóna as a feminine form of sjóni." [04/2023 CL]
7. Skorageirr. Page 14. "Gunnvor Orle determined that the original source, Geirr Bassi (p14), had a typo, and what has been rendered as Skora_-Geirr should have been rendered as Skorar-Gierr." [JML - the LoAR had a typographical error; it should be Skorar-Geirr.] [01/2025, Gunnvaldr Skorargeirson, 02/2025, A-Caid]
8. Spana. Page 14. "We will no longer register this feminine given name. It is a typographical error for the name Svava." [12/2023 CL]
9. spákona. Page 28. "Evidence was presented during commentary that the byname spákona was, much like its synonyms v{o,}lva and v{o,}lu, a byname that constitutes a claim to supernatural or magical powers [01/2022 CL]. Per SENA PN4C, we do not register such names. [11/2024 CL]
10. Tómas. Page 15. "... we could find no evidence of this given name before 1154 (Lind Dopnamn cols 1027-1028, s.n. Thomás)." [Elizabet Tomasdottir, 07/2023, A-Caid]
11. Viktor. Page 16. "... no evidence outside of this source could be found in support of this given name for the Viking era. Therefore, as of this Cover Letter, we will no longer register Viktor as an Old Norse masculine given name. It continues to be registerable in later period Swedish as Victherr (1483), Victhor (1515), and Wychtur (1519) [SMP, unpublished data], and in Russian as Viktor (1356) [Wickenden, s.n. Viktor]." [05/2023 CL]
12. Vǫlu-. Page 29. "Therefore, as of this Cover Letter, we explicitly overturn the January 2020 precedent and we will no longer register the elements v{o,}lva and v{o,}lu, including their prepended forms, as they constitute a claim to powers as described in SENA PN4C." [01/2022 CL]

Marta as tu Mika-Mysliwy, "Mongolian Naming Practices" (https://heraldry.sca.org/names/mongolian_names_marta.html)

1. koghun. "Common Epithets from Primary Sources". "... appears to be an unusual form of kö'ün, the usual Middle Mongol word for "son". Guidance for using kö'ün to form a patronymic byname may be found in SENA Appendix A. Commenters were not able to find evidence that any form of kö'ün was used as an independent byname. [Khutugh Koghun, 06/2024, R-East]

Paul Wickenden of Thanet, A Dictionary of Period Russian Names

1. Likerion. 2nd edition athttps://heraldry.sca.org/names/paul/ and 3rd edition, p. 187. Typographical error in the transcription, the name should be Likarion. [Likarion Volkovich, 08/2024, A-Atlantia]

Solveig Throndardottir, Name Construction in Mediaeval Japan. [NCMJ]

1. Tomoe. Under Historical Feminine Names (1999 ed., p. 385; 2004 ed., p. 386). "Based on Solveig's new evidence, we will cease to register this element as of the March 2018 decision meetings without more evidence supporting its use in period." [08/2017 CL]

Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "The First Thousand Years of British Names" (https://heraldry.sca.org/names/british1000/british1000.html)

1. Verica. "... as of the publication of this Cover Letter, we will register Verica as either a feminine Latin given name or a masculine British given name. However, we will no longer register it as a British feminine given name." [04/2021 CL]

Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "A Consideration of Pictish Names" (https://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/pictnames/)

1. Vercingetorix. "Therefore, we will treat this name much like the given name Regina as discussed in SENA PN4B1. That is to say we will not register Vercingetorix as a given name when combined with a locative or a ethnonymic, but will with other forms of byname." [Vercingetorix of the Treveri, 09/2025, A-Calontir]

Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "12th Century Scottish Women's Names" (https://heraldry.sca.org/names/scott12.html)

1. Deredere. "While this spelling does indeed appear in Black, s.n. Deirdre, this appears to be in error. The documented nominative case form in the Annals, which Black cites, is Derder. ... We will not consider this spelling to be attested going forward." [Deredere Turner, 09/2022, A-Meridies]

Walraven van Nijmegen, "Hungarian Feminine Names" (https://heraldry.sca.org/names/magfem2.html)

1. Ade. "... the name Ade is not a form of Adél but of Adam" [Ade Eszes, 12/2024, A-Ansteorra]

General Notes

Pelican has occassionally made general comments about regarding sources and acceptability of the names included. These include:

• Bardas Xiphias, "Common Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the 6th and 7th Centuries" (https://heraldry.sca.org/names/byzantine/early_byz_names.html). These names are Latinize Greek and do not follow the patterns or constructions set out in Ursula George's "Simple Guide for Greek Names". They instead follow the rules in SENA Appendix A for the formation of Latinized bynames (https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#AppendixALatinized). [12/2024 CL]
• [Black] Black, George F. The Surnames of Scotland: see the March 2018 Cover Letter; particularly with regards to names dated from the 1400s and earlier and with Gaelic root forms.
• Christian de Holacombe, "Faire Names for English Folk: Late Sixteenth Century English Names": As noted by the author, bynames in this article use 20th century spellings. The author does provide links to Janell K. Lovelace’s article "English Names from Pre-1600 Brass Inscriptions", which contains the 14th-16th century spellings of these surnames. [Angela di Francesco Sartore, 09/2025, A-An Tir]
• Colm Dudh, "An Index of Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris" (https://heraldry.sca.org/names/paris.html). The accents listed in this work are editorial additions in the original source, which is Hercule Geraud, Paris sous Philippe-le-Bel: d'aprés des documents originaux et notamment d'aprés un manuscript contenant Le Rôle de la taille imposée sur les habitants de Paris en 1292. Names taken from this source should not be accented. [Colète Anne de Harewode, 05/2025, A-Middle]
• Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "A Simple Guide to Constructing 13th Century Welsh Names": "... the standard modern forms are consistent with normalized spelling rules for 16th C Welsh and are thus registerable." [Gwenllian verch Hywel, 07/2024, A-Atenveldt]
• Ursula Georges, "Greek Names with Scytho-Sarmatian Roots" ": This article used circumflexes over vowels in place of macrons due to the typography limitations at the time it was written." [Mai{o-}sara Neara Kardiana, 11/2023, A-Gleann Abhann] (Note: Any letter with a circumflex represents the same letter with a macron.)
• Ursula Georges, "Some Persian Feminine Names and Etymologies from the Timurid Dynasty": "... when this article was published, i-macron had to be represented by i-circumflex." [Sh{i-}r{i-}n-i Mihr, 09/2022, A-Meridies] (Note: Any letter with a circumflex represents the same letter with a macron.)
• [Wickenden] Paul Wickenden of Thanet, A Dictionary of Period Russian Name: see the July 2017 Cover Letter; particularly with regards to temporal compatibility and for authenticity requests.
• [Withycombe] Withycombe, E.G. Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names: "Withycombe is not a reliable source for non-English names or for anglicizations of Gaelic names." [Malis der Totschläger, 09/2005, A-Atenveldt]
• Yehoshua ben Haim haYerushalmi, "Jewish Names in the World of Medieval Islam" (https://heraldry.sca.org/names/Jewish/Cairo/index.html): "This article capitalizes the articles ben, bint, bat, bar, ibn and al-. None of these articles should be capitalized for submission unless documentation for that capitalization in period sources can be provided at the time of submission. This article discusses use of the article ibin. This is a typo for the standard ibn." [01/2024 CL]

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