Laurel: | Date: (year.month.date) | Precedent: |
General | ||
Da'ud ibn Auda (2nd tenure, 2nd year) | 1995.04 | The commenters were very wary of placing much confidence in Time-Life books as period name documentation. No one could find Truvor or anything like it in any other sources. Given that fact, it seems likely that Truvor is a unique documentary form and not a name actually used at all. (Da'ud ibn Auda, LoAR April 1995, p. 10) |
Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane | 1986.12.28 | One touchstone for the uniqueness of a byname is whether it is used by itself, in period or in modern histories, to refer to the individual it describes (e.g., in medieval and modern literature Richard I of England is sometimes called simply "the Lionheart"). (LoAR 28 Dec 86, p. 10) |
Wilhelm von Schlüssel | 1980.07.21 | Names which are not unique may be used so long as the surnames or sobriquets or place names adequately difference the given name from the famous holder of that name. Names which are unique to a famous entity may not be used, particularly if the entity is non-mortal. WVS [20] [CL 21 Jul 80], p. 4 |
Wilhelm von Schlüssel | 1980.07.21 | If a famous figure is famous only under one name, and has a child name which only scholars have ever heard of, then the child name is not barred while the famous name may be. If the famous name has only been used once in all time, namely by that famous person, then the name is unique and forbidden. If most people will only have heard of this one use, and most people will in fact have heard about it, then, even if there are other obscure uses of it, the name is essentially unit and restricted. WVS [20] [CL 21 Jul 80], p. 4 |
Aradia | ||
Da'ud ibn Auda (2nd year, 1st tenure) | 1992.03 | [Aradia] "The name has been modified to drop the problematical Aradia, which appears to be a unique name." (LoAR 3/92 p.9). |
Arion | ||
François la Flamme | 2001.08 | Submitted as Arion the Falcon, the given name Arion was documented as the name of a "semi-legendary Greek poet of the 7th C BC, reputedly the first poet to use dithyramb". The suggestion was made that Arion could be viwed as one of the names revived in the Renaissance. Metron Ariston found a reference to this Arion in the poetry of John Gower (circa 1325-1408). However, this is the only reference to Arion that the College found in English works from the Middle Ages. Barring evidence that the Greek poet Arion was more broadly known in England than a single reference in poetry, it is not likely that the name Arion was revived. As such, the documentation stands with only the reference to the 7th C BC Greek poet, which is more than 1000 years before an appropriate date for the byname, and therefore it would be returnable. [Aron the Falcon, 08/01, A-Atenveldt] |
Da'ud ibn Auda (2nd tenure, 1st year) | 1993.12b | Arion appears to be by the submitter's own documentation to be a unique name, that of a semi-legendary ancient Greek poet and musician. (The only other Arion found was a "fabulous horse", the offspring of Poseidon and Demeter.) We need documentation of its use by other humans in period before we may register Arion. [12a/93, p.15] |
Barbarossa | ||
François la Flamme | 2003.11 | In 1972, Laurel ruled that Barbarossa was presumptuous.
While this ruling has never been explicitly overturned, Barbarossa has been registered several times. As it is a simple descriptive byname meaning "red beard", it is registerable, and not presumptuous. This byname is also not unique to Frederick Barbarossa, as noted in a comment appended to the above precedent in "Precedents of the S.C.A. College of Arms: Volume II - The Early Years" (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/precedents/early/earlydayscombined.html): [Conrad Barbarossa, 11/2003, A-Atlanta] |
Harold Breakstone | 1972.08.13 | He can't be Barbarossa. It's the specific name of a very famous person. (KFW, 13 Aug 72 [32], p. 3) [Actually, Barbarossa is a descriptive surname meaning "red beard." It was borne by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, and by the Turkish corsair Khair ad-Din and his brother.] |
Bláithín | ||
François la Flamme | 2003.01 | Bláithín appears to be a unique name. The only example of this name that was found was in Irish legend, where Bláithín is the name of the betrayer of the Munster warrior Cú Rói. Lacking evidence that the name is not unique, it is not registerable. [Bláithín inghean Bhradaigh, 01/2003 LoAR, R-Atenveldt] |
Boadicea, Bodica, Bodicca, Boudica, Boudicca | ||
François la Flamme | 2001.10 | The only evidence found for Boudicca is the Iceni queen. As such, it is a unique name and is no longer registerable. Forms of it have only been registered three times (1991, 1992, 1996), too rarely to be considered SCA compatible. [Victoria of Vig, 10/01, A-Trimaris] |
Da'ud ibn Auda | 1996.01 | According to Harpy, Boadicea is based on a post-period misunderstanding of the name that is attested in inscriptions in the forms Bodic(c)a and Boudic(c)a; as such it cannot be registered. For various phonological reasons, however, the name could not appear in these forms past approximately the 6th century, and any later form would involve more of a change than we care to make. (Talan Gwynek, LoAR January 1996, p. 2) |
Chagatai | ||
Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane | 1987.05.24 | [Chagatai Buran] By the submittor's own documentation the given name was that of one of the sons of Genghis Khan. Such names, e.g. Genghis, Temujin, etc., have in the past been returned as unique names failing documentation to demonstrate their more general use in Mongolian society. No such documentation has been provided. (LoAR 24 May 87, p. 12) |
Daimíne, Daimhín | ||
François la Flamme | 2003.02 | Submitted as Daimhín le Milner, there was some question whether the name Daimhín appears only as a legendary name. Ó Corráin & Maguire (p. 68 s.n. Daimíne) list only "Daimíne Damargait, king of Airgialla" as a legendary bearer of this name. Donnchadh Ó Corráin & Mavis Cournane, ed., "The Annals of Ulster" (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100001/), entry U565.3, list the death of Daimin Daim Airgit, the same person as mentioned in the entry in Ó Corráin & Maguire. His death is also mentioned in Donnchadh Ó Corráin, ed., "Annals of Inisfallen" (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100004/), entry I564.2, where he is called Daimín mc. Domongairt. Entries for early years in Irish annals are less likely to be historical the earlier the date. The general rule of thumb is to give entries after about A.D. 500, especially in older annals such as "The Annals of Ulster", the benefit of the doubt. However, this is the only person found with this name (both in Ó Corráin & Maguire and in the annals), implying that the name seems to be unique to this individual. Lacking evidence that this given name is not unique to this (possibly legendary) king, it is not registerable. [Damhán le Milner, 02/2003 LoAR, A-Caid] |
Danebod | ||
Jaelle of Armida | 1997.08 | This is being returned for using a unique name. Danebod is a late form of an epithet applied to Þyri, wife of the 10th c. king Gorm the Old. The earliest form is Danmarkar bót, with a runic version tanmarkar but. In younger sources the epithet becomes Danabot, Danebot, etc. In the entire body of literature surveyed in DGP, the byname is applied uniquely to this one person. The literal meaning of the phrase is `Denmark's bettering', `Denmark's cure'; it seems very unlikely that such a byname would have been used of anyone but a very prominent national hero(ine) therefore, its use in the SCA can be viewed as presumptuous and in violation of RfS VI, 4., Other Presumptuous Names. (Jaelle of Armida, LoAR August 1997, p. 25) |
Eldarion | ||
Karina of the Far West | 1979.06.30 | Eldarion was the son and heir of the King Elessar. You cannot bear that excessively famous name, even with modifiers, even if it is your mundane name. (KFW, 30 Jun 79 [25], p. 76) |
Gradlon | ||
François la Flamme | 2002.09 | This name was submitted as Gralon Le Friant Braz and changed at Kingdom because no documentation was found for the submitted form of the given name. The documentation submitted with this name is in French and no translation was provided. Precedent states that "we require that all documentation in another language be translated into English" (November 1993 LoAR, p. 20). As no translation was provided for this documentation, it is not considered support for this name.
An earlier form of this name was returned with the explanation:
Regarding the current submission, Sommelier found that:
As the only example of the name Gradlon that was found is of the legendary king, the previous reason for return has not been addressed and is still valid. [Gradlon Le Friant Braz, 09/2002 LoAR, R-Meridies] |
Harsha | ||
François la Flamme | 2001.11 | The submitter has provided sufficient evidence that the name Harsha is not unique to the 7th C Indian emperor of that name, which was the previous cause for return. [Harsha Varnum, 11/01, R-Caid] |
Hiel | ||
Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme | 1993.03 | Lord Crescent has noted that the only instance of Hiel in the Bible is the name of a man "cursed before the Lord"; he suggests that, for this reason, Hiel would never have actually been used in the Middle Ages. In fact, the names of "cursed" people in the Bible were often used by the non-cursed, even by saints; it's assumed that the name was perfectly innocent before its use by one wicked person. Judas, for instance, was used both by the betrayer of Christ and by one of the Apostles (John 14:22). There's also Ananias, the name of a man struck dead for lying to Peter (Acts 5:5) and of the disciple who restored Paul's sight (Acts 9:17). There are too many such examples for us to disallow a valid period name solely because of "guilt by association"; the name must be shown to be uniquely (or at least overwhelmingly) associated with its "cursed" holder. Lacking such evidence for Hiel, the name should be available for SCA use. (Abiel ben Hiel, March, 1993, pg. 7) |
Humayun | ||
François la Flamme | 2002.07 | The submitted name mixes Arabic and Indian languages within name phrases, which is prohibited under RfS III.1.a, which requires linguistic consistency within a name element. Humayun was documented as the "name of a Mughal ruler of northern India, 1515-1556". al-Jamal notes that "technically the name is not truly 'Arabic', in that Humayun may be Mughal, a form of Mongol, rather than Arabic." The byname bint Humayun therefore combines the Arabic bint, meaning 'daughter', with the non-Arabic name Humayun. There is also some question whether the name Humayun was in common use. If it is unique to this ruler, then use of this name in a byname is presumptuous and is cause for return. In order to be registerable, this phrase needs to rendered in a single language and Humayun needs to be shown to be a name that is not unique to this ruler. [Masala bint Humayun al Delhi, 07/2002, R-Atenveldt] |
Lalage | ||
Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme | 1993.06 | Without evidence that the courtesan Lalage of antiquity had a unique name, we must assume her name to be generally acceptable. (Lalage la Peregrina, June, 1993, pg. 9) |
Macsen | ||
Wilhelm von Schlüssel | 1980.08.27 | [Macsen.] The name of any mortal can be used so long as it is not a title or absolutely unique, and so long as it is adequately differenced from the famous usage by the rest of the Society name. The names of non-mortal beings may not be used unless they were used by people in the real world in our period ([e.g.] Jesus, Gabriel, and Diana). Examples of titles are Charlemagne and Amenhotep. An absolutely unique name is one that was only used by the one famous person and is not derivable from other common names. Cuchulain is an example. Macsen is the Welsh form of Maximus, a common Roman name. Although there is only one recorded use of Macsen, it could easily have happened more than once if another Maximus had moved to Wales. Macsen is therefore derivable from Maximus. WVS [23] [LoAR 27 Aug 80], p. 6 |
Meenakshi | ||
François la Flamme | 2002.05 | The documentation provided for Meenakshi show it only as the name of the consort of Shiva. Lacking documentation that it was used by humans in period, or even a pattern of Indian given names in period being taken from the given names of deities or their consorts, this name is not registerable. [Meenakshi Singh, 05/2002, R-Outlands] |
Rob Roy <Surname> | ||
Da'ud ibn Auda (1st year of 1st tenure) | 1990.10 | [Rob Roy <Surname>] "After much consideration and discussion, it was determined that 'Rob Roy' is so well known and closely associated with Rob Roy McGregor that it must be considered a unique name. 'Rob' is fine, and so is 'Roy', but 'Rob Roy' is not." (LoAR 10/90 p.17). |
Skallagrim | ||
Jaelle of Armida | 1997.08 | in the past we have returned names using Skallagrim as being unique names, since the only reference we had to it was the father of Egill of Egil's Saga. The name Ivar Skallagrim (Ansteorra) was returned 4/88 on those grounds An appeal of the return was denied 12/89. On the 1/89 LoAR the submitted Thjodulf Skallagrimsson (Meridies) was changed to Thjodulf Grimsson for the same reason. However, we now have more information. Although Skallagrímr is in origin a combination of the nickname Skalla- 'bald' and the forename Grímr, Lind, Norsk-Isländska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namm från Medeltiden, s.n. Skallagrímr notes that there is at least one instance of the compound Skallagrímr as a forename in its own right: a Skallagrimr Audvnar son died in 1353. Egils saga Skallagrímssonar is thought to have been written c.1220; Egill himself was a contemporary of Eirík Blóðøx, so he can be dated to the 10th c. A 14th c. Úlfr Skallagrímsson is therefore entirely possible. (Jaelle of Armida, LoAR August 1997, p. 11) |
Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane | 1989.01.15 | [Grimsson] The name was submitted as [Name] Skallagrimsson. As Skallagrim has previously been ruled to be a unique designation for Grimr Kveldulfsson, we have dropped the adjective epithet to make the patronymic more generic in order to register [it]. (LoAR 15 Jan 89, p. 7) |
Subetai | ||
François la Flamme | 2003.01 | The question was raised whether the name Subetai is unique to the 13th C Mongol general. Orle provided evidence of other people with this name:
Given these examples, Subetai is not unique and may be registered. [Subetai Nasan, 01/2003 LoAR, A-Atlantia] |
Temugin | ||
Elsbeth Anne Roth | 2000.11 | Submitted as Teh-Mu-Ginn Burgud Jerekh, the question was raised whether Temugin was a restricted name. However, the March 1998 registration of Timujin Timortologai overturned that precedent after considering new evidence. However, no evidence was given for using hyphens in the transliteration. We have changed the spelling to a likely period one. [Tehmuginn Burgudjerekh, 11/00, A-Atenveldt] |
Tomyris | ||
François la Flamme | 2004.01 | This name is being returned for multiple problems. These include:
The documentation provided in the LoI for this name was:
The first problem with this submission was that no photocopies of the sources cited for this documentation were provided with the submission. As this source is not listed in Appendix H of the Administrative Handbook, "Name Books That Do Not Require Photocopies to Laurel", photocopies are required for this documentation. Lacking these photocopies, the submitted documentation may not be used to support this submission. Another problem was the construction for the byname of the Sauromatae. The construction for this byname was of the [tribe name]. Bynames referring to tribe or clan names are formed in different ways in different languages. No documentation was provided and none was found to support of the [tribe name] as a plausible form in whatever language is appropriate for the term Sauromatae. Lacking such evidence, this byname is not registerable. This byname could be considered a Lingua Anglica rendering of a byname formed from a tribe name. However, to appeal to the Lingua Anglica allowance, documentation must be provided to support the byname in the original language. Only then may a Lingua Anglica form be determined. Metron Ariston points out several more issues with this name:
As a result, the only documentation we have for Tomyris is as the name of a legendary queen. Lacking evidence that this name was used by humans and is not unique, this name is not registerable. Further, since "[m]any ancient authors consider the Sauromatae, the Massagetae and the Scythians to be nearly indistinguishable", the combination of Tomyris with a byname based on the Sauromatae tribe is effectively a claim to be this legendary queen. The most significant, problem was that no documentation was provided and none was found that a 6th C B.C. Scythian or Sauromatae culture had contact with medieval or Renaissance Europe. Names from Pharonic Egypt have previously been ruled unregisterable:
In this case, the name Tomyris and a tribe called the Sauromatae are referenced in writings that were accessable to a highly educated scholar in medieval Europe. Even so, while a child in some cultures could have been given a given name from ancient writings, no evidence was found that a byname referring to an ancient tribe is reasonable in medieval or Renaissance Europe. Lacking such evidence, this byname is not registerable. Additionally, only some classical names were given to children. Names with negative connotations were usually not in this group. As noted by Metron Ariston, while the story of Tomyris "was quite popular in Renaissance art, the bloodthirsty nature of the story and the barbaric associations of the name would militate against its adoption in common use." Lacking evidence that the associations with Tomyris are equivalent with names from classical literature that were given to children in the Renaissance, Tomyris is not registerable as a classical name revived in the Renaissance. [Tomyris of the Sauromatae, 01/2004, R-East] |
Truvor | ||
Da'ud ibn Auda (2nd tenure, 2nd year) | 1995.04 | The commenters were very wary of placing much confidence in Time-Life books as period name documentation. No one could find Truvor or anything like it in any other sources. Given that fact, it seems likely that Truvor is a unique documentary form and not a name actually used at all. (Da'ud ibn Auda, LoAR April 1995, p. 10) |
Laurel: | Date: (year.month.date) | Precedent: |
al-Zahra | ||
François la Flamme | 2002.02 | The byname al-Zahra is pronounced 'az-Zahra', but it is always written al-Zahra. However, this byname has only been documented as a byname referring to Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad. Lacking evidence that this byname is not unique to Fatima, it is a unique byname and is not registerable. [Zubaydah az-Zahra, 02/02, R-Meridies] |
Grianánach | ||
Elsbeth Anne Roth | 2001.01 | The documentation implies that the epithet refers uniquely to Ogma, champion to the Tuatha and, in some sense, the Irish analogue of Hercules. As such, it is not appropriate as a byname, so barring new evidence to the contrary we have to return it. [Ciarán Grianánach, 01/01, R-Caid] |
O'Neill | ||
Wilhelm von Schlüssel | 1981.02.23 | While O'Neill was the surname of many Irish kings, like Stuart it is also an extremely large clan name, and it has already been registered to N.'s mother. WVS [36] [LoAR 23 Feb 81], p. 2 |
Samhioldanach | ||
Da'ud ibn Auda (1st year of 1st tenure) | 1990.11 | [Samhioldanach] "There was a question as to whether the byname is unique to the god Lugh, but given the lack of documentation for this objection, we are giving the submitter the benefit of the doubt." (LoAR 11/90 p.9). |
sundafyllir | ||
François la Flamme | 2004.02 | This name is being returned for issues with the byname sundafyllir. This byname was documented from Geirr Bassi (p. 28) as meaning 'sound-filler, able to fill a bay with fish by magic'.
Gunnvör silfrahárr provided further information regarding this byname:
Therefore, the current evidence shows that the byname sundafyllir is both unique and a claim to magical powers. As such, it violates RfS VI.2 "Names Claiming Powers", which states in part: [Rannveig sundafyllir, 02/2004, R-Caid] |