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Gargan seems a reasonable anglicization of Geargán. (Gargan Garnet, June, 1992, pg. 1)
St. Kiara was a female Irish saint, c. 680, according to Butler's Lives of the Saints; the name might also be considered an anglicization of the Irish feminine name Ceara (O Corrain & Maguire p.50). (Kiara o Ddinas Emry, July, 1992, pg. 1)
St. Kiara was a female Irish saint, c.680, according to Butler's Lives of the Saints. Kiera has been accepted as a variant spelling (Kiera nic an Bhaird, April 92). (Kiera Lye d'Alessandria, July, 1992, pg. 13)
Liam doesn't appear to have been a period diminutive of Uilleam. All the sources that cite Liam do so as a modern diminutive; the period diminutive was Uillec. Without evidence of period use, we can't register Liam. (Liam O Dubhghaill, July, 1992, pg. 20)
Given such names as Michelle and Raphaelle, Arielle seems a reasonable feminization of the Hebrew masculine name Ariel. Certainly, it's preferable to the widespread use of the latter by female personae. (Arielle ni Sheanain, August, 1992, pg. 3)
The given name was submitted as Leala, claimed to be a variant form of Leila. The documentation did not support that claim: in particular, as Leila derives from the Arabic Lailaa, it probably wouldn't change pronunciation so radically.[The name was registered as Leila] (Leila Angwin of the Silver Stallion, August, 1992, pg. 5)
Withycombe, p.24, cites Angelica as the "name of the lady beloved by Orlando" in the works of Ariosto (1474-1533); we find it, and its French form Angelique, acceptable. (Angelique Marielle DuBois, August, 1992, pg. 20)
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The submitter's documentation shows Abih as an Arabic name: Ziyad ibn Abih was the ruler of al-Basrah in the 7th Century. (Ibrahim ibn Abih al-Thaalibi, August, 1992, pg. 21)
Briallen is the Welsh for "primrose", and does not seem to have been a given name in period; nor does it belong to a class of common nouns that were regularly used as names in period Welsh. (Briallen o Llanrwst, August, 1992, pg. 22)
The submitter's own documentation gives Rolan as a surname; the closest given name is Rodhlann (or, in modern Irish, Rólann). The double-N changes the sound of the last vowel; it is not a trivial spelling variant [name retured as submittor permitted no changes]. (Rolan O'Cellaigh the Gentle, August, 1992, pg. 25)
The given name was submitted on the strength of a citation in Geirr Bassi's Old Norse Name. This was an error, probably due to multiple photocopying: the actual name is Kadlin, with an edh. (It appears to be the Old Norse form of the Irish Kathlín.) Kaolin turns out to be a common noun, a form of white clay used in making porcelain; as such, it's unacceptable as a given name in the SCA. (Kaolin Karsikko, August, 1992, pg. 30)
[Dagon] Morlet (vol.II, p.64) cites Dago as an early French given name. Given examples of such names adding the suffix -on (Talo/Talon, Hugo/Hugon, Malo/Malon, etc.), Dagon is at least plausible (Dagon Robert Fenwick, September, 1992, pg. 16)
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Tirlach seems a reasonable anglicization of the Irish given name Toirdhealbhach. (Tirlach Kinsella, September, 1992, pg. 17)
[Melisaundre] The given name was ...justified as a hybrid of Melisande and Alisaundre. Unfortunately, French names aren't thematic (as, e.g., Old Norse names are); melding the first half of one French name with the last half of another doesn't usually yield a valid given name. (In this case, the two names aren't even derived from the same source: Melisande is ultimately German in origin, and Alisaundre derives from the Greek.) While it might be plausible that one name would change due to the other's influence, we'd like to see some evidence of this; pending such evidence, we've substituted the documented name Melisenda. (Melisenda Brigitte Nazaire d'Avignon, September, 1992, pg. 24)
The name Aurora "occurs as a Christian name in inscriptions of the Roman Empire." (Dunkling & Gosling, p.36) (Aurora Gillybary, September, 1992, pg. 28)
[Thyrin] The LOI attempted to justify [the given name] as a variant of Thorin. However, the Y/O shift appears implausible for the period in which Thorin was a name [old Norse]. [The documented Norse name Thyrnni was registered instead.] (Thyrnni of Wolfskrag, September, 1992, pg. 36)
[Richenda] Using my predecessor's "Auda/Ali" test, this is clear of [Richard]. The two names have differently emphasized syllables, and Richenda does not seem to directly derive from Richard. (Richenda of Locksley, October, 1992, pg. 2)
While Brennan may be an anglicization of the Irish Brénainn, as suggested in the LOI, Lord Dolphin notes that it's also a common anglicization of surnames derived from the given name Bránan --- and should therefore be an acceptable spelling of that name as well. (Brennan Conyngham of Ayrshire, October, 1992, pg. 6)
[Scota] Given the citation of Uchtred filius Scot in 1124 (Reaney DBS II, p.309), we're prepared to believe that Scot is a period given name. Scota would be a reasonable feminization of the Latin form Scotus. (Scota MacAuliffe., October, 1992, pg. 11)
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Gary ...appears to be an acceptable anglicization of the Gaelic Garaidh. (Hanks & Hodges, DFN 129). (Gary Tavistok, October, 1992, pg. 14)
Though it's been registered in the SCA, Melusine has not been documented as a period given name. The example closest to period is Melusina von der Schulenburg, cited in Withycombe, p.220; she was born in 1667, according to evidence presented for the submission of Melusine Whitcroft the Petite. Susequent registrations of Melusine have depended on this citation.
There are only a bare handful of Melusines registered, and the only documentation is post-1650; I think I can safely disallow the name, pending evidence that it's period. I'd be willing to believe it a variant form of Melisenda, Millicent --- but as it's also the name of a mythical monster, I'd like to see some evidence of its period use by humans. (Melusine d'Argent, October, 1992, pg. 21)
O Corrain and Maguire (Irish Names ) cite Tara as an anglicization of the period given name Temair, Teamhair. Tara has been submitted by others before, but returned for several reasons: Tara is also the name of the ancient seat of the High Kings of Ireland, and it didn't seem to be a valid rendering of Temair. ("TAH-wair" would be closer to the latter's pronunciation.) The assumption in previous submissions was that Tara is a modern given name, based on the Irish toponymic (or the mansion in Gone with the Wind), and its association with Temair a back-formation; the historical and magical connotations of the Hill of Tara made it unsuitable for a given name.
However, the Irish name for the Hill of Tara (Teamhair) is identical to the documented given name (Columbia Lippincott Gazetter, p.1877; Room's Dictionary of Irish Place Names, p.118). (O Corrain and Maguire note that the Hill was, in fact, named after a Temair of Irish myth.) If the given name and the placename are identical in Irish, and Tara is a valid anglicization of the latter, then it should be acceptable as an anglicization of the former. A similar argument, using surnames instead of placenames, was accepted in the registration of Brayden, on the LoAR of July 92; I see no reason not to accept it here. (Tara of Seaborough., November, 1992, pg. 9)
The submitter cites hyphenated feminine names from near-period: Anne-Julienne Dumont, b.1646 (Lorraine), and Jeanne-Marie DuBois, who bore a son in 1640 (Angouleme). (Dictionnaire Genealogique des Families Canadiennes) These being within our 50-year "grey area" for documentation, they support this form as a late-period French name. (Nicole-Julienne Laviolette, December, 1992, pg. 14)
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No documentation has been presented to show Alec as a period diminutive of Alexander; indeed, suchevidence as exists suggests it to be a purely modern diminutive. Without evidence of period use, we cannot register Alec. (Alec Tristan d'Avignon, December, 1992, pg. 16)
Dorian was not a name in period, but an adjective: "pertaining to the inhabitants of Doris, in Greece." Its first use as a given name was in Oscar Wilde's Portrait of Dorian Grey. (Dorian Elwinwood, December, 1992, pg. 17)
Mara was the name taken briefly by Naomi in her bitterness (Ruth 1:20). The Bible presents it as a given name, and evidently it was considered a given name until recently (J. Comay, Who's Who in the Old Testament, p.293). It seems a reasonable given name for Society use. (Mara of the Oak Leaf, January, 1993, pg. 4)
Given that Amber has explicitly been ruled SCA-compatible [BoE, 3 Feb 85], and has been accepted slightly more than a year ago (Dec 91), I'm not inclined to disallow Amber at this time. (Amber Blackwood, January, 1993, pg. 12)
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According to Lord Palimpsest, Withycombe's entry on Quentin is inaccurate; it was a masculine name in period, not a feminine name. In this case, it goes well with the masculine patronymic Ó Riorda\áin; but the submitter should probably be told that her name would have been a man's name in period (even with the feminine Siobhan added). (Quentyn Siobhan Ó Riorda\áin, January, 1993, pg. 20)
[Uodalrica] There was some question in the commentary about the validity of the given name. The original root, Uodalric, is masculine by virtue of its masculine deuterotheme -ric. It's possible that the Latinized form Uodalricus is simply be the default spelling for that time and place --- and therefore, unlike classical Latin names such as Julius/Julia, incapable of being feminized by changing -us to -a. The question cannot be definitively answered, on the basis of the evidence presented for this submission. However, the Society has traditionally been tolerant of feminized forms of period masculine names, whether such feminized names were documented or not; in part, this is an acknowledgement that women's names simply weren't recorded as often as men's names. As a general rule, if the masculine form of a name is documented to period, we assume the feminized form is acceptable. In this particular case, barring any direct evidence to the contrary, we will give the submitter the benefit of the doubt. (Uodalrica MacDonnell, September, 1993, pp. 5-6)
Miranda has been registered often enough to be considered compatible with period usage. Shakespeare appears to have made up the name for the character in The Tempest (1611) using principles dating from period. At any rate, I see nothing to be gained from banning it now. (Miranda Jourdaine MacDowel, October, 1993, pg. 8)
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