Copyright © 1995 - Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.
The 2nd Tenure of Da'ud Ibn Auda (2nd year)
No examples have yet been found of a woman using a masculine patronymic when the name is written in Irish. We have therefore substituted the feminine patronymic form. (Eibhilín Nic Thighearnáin, 8/94 p. 3)
[returning Caitlyn] The given is documented only as Caitlin (even in the submitter's own documentation -- photocopies from Today's Best Baby Names by Alfred J. Kolatch!), and Irish does not use the English "i/y" switch. (Caitlyn of Dolwyddelan, 8/94 p. 19)
Period names even in Britain did not mix Gaelic and Anglicized form. We have therefore substituted the Gaelic form of the patronymic to match the given. (Coinneach Ó Domhnaill, 9/94 p. 5)
A mixture of ON and Gaelic isn't in itself out of the question, and both in ON and in Gaelic a two-generation patronymic is possible, but none of the commenters could find support for a mixed-language, two-generation patronymic. [The name was returned.] (Eirik Gunnolfsson Mac an Ghabhann, 9/94 15)
Irish usage doesn't seem to allow either double given names or unmarked patronymics. In some cases we have been able to get around the problem by interpreting the second element as a nickname, but it is not possible to do so here: as a nickname Rígán could only be �sub-king, chief', which would fall afoul of RfS VI.1. [The name was returned.] (Mór Rígán, 9/94 p. 16)
The patronymic was Gaelic with the remainder of the name was Englished. As no examples have yet been adduced for combing fully Gaelic forms with Englished forms, we have made the smallest change possible and Englished the patronymic. (Ian MacIneirie of Inverary, 10/94 p. 7)
There is so far no evidence for double given names in Irish; every apparent example found so far has proven to be of the form <name> <byname>, though many of these bynames are also used as given names. As the submitter allowed changes, we have modified the name into a more standard three-generation patronymic form. (Lorccan mac Cinaetha meic Dara, 10/94 p. 10)
Margaret is far, far too late to be combined with the name of an early Irish tribe (they arrived in Ireland between 500 and 100 B.C.) with a temporal difference of a millennium or more. [The name was returned.] (Margaret of the Érainn, 10/94 p. 16)
There is no documentation whatsoever for double given names in Gaelic. [The name element was deleted for this and other problems.] (Eithne Cameron, 12/94 p. 5)
The combination of German forename and Gaelic byname needs justification, at the very least. [The name was returned for this and another problem. (Hagen Seanaeiche, 12/94 p. 10)
No evidence has yet been presented for the use of double given names in Irish. We have been able to register some where the second name was also meaningful as a byname, but that is not the case with Seán, the Irish borrowing of the French Jehan. [The name was returned.] (Cormac Seán MacCárthaigh, 12/94 p. 12)
The question of mixed Gaelic/English names appears to
have been widely misunderstood. The legitimacy of combining names
of Gaelic origin with names of English (or for that matter French or Norse)
origin has never been in question; but it should be done in a reasonable
way. What distinguishes this particular combination from most others
is that Gaelic orthographic conventions are startlingly different from
those of English; the English and Gaelic "codes" for representing sounds
are very dissimilar. For example, English doesn't use bh or mh for
the sound of v; Gaelic does not use the letter v. Writing Gaelic
names in an English setting is therefore akin to transliterating Chinese,
Russian, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic names: although the alphabet is largely
familiar, many of the phonetic values of its letters and letter combinations
are not. For example, the symbols Ainmire Ó Catháin
are in English a very poor representation of the name; the Anglicization
Anvirre O Kaane, on the other hand, is an excellent representation according
to the conventions of sixteenth century English. Note that differences
in spelling conventions between such languages as French and German are
small by comparison and were even smaller in period.
We regularly require that Chinese names use a single
transliteration system throughout, whether Pinyin or Wade-Giles.
Similarly, we have required reasonable consistency of transliteration of
Russian and Arabic names, modifying submitted forms to avoid glaring inconsistencies.
Are we then to ignore the documentary evidence and allow widely divergent
transliteration systems in this instance? All of the evidence found
to date demonstrates that mixed Gaelic and English names were written according
to a single set of spelling conventions, either Gaelic or English.
(This is not to claim that either of these systems was itself entirely
uniform, of course.) After all the discussion on this issue, no one
yet has presented any evidence that supports anything but consistency of
transliteration in either Gaelic or Anglicized Gaelic (well, okay, or Latin)
for Gaelic/English names; consistency which we already require for names
in a number of other languages.
As a consequence, it is my belief that we should require
consistent transliterations of Gaelic/English names: such names should
be spelled according to Gaelic conventions or according to English conventions,
but should not drastically switch spelling conventions from Gaelic to English
or vice versa in mid-name. (CL 5/95)
There is apparently some confusion about the difference
between ní and nic. The article in Tournaments Illuminated
notwithstanding, it isn't primarily the difference between Irish and Scottish
(as the submitter believes). Ní X simply means "the daughter
of a man named X" while nic X means "the daughter of a man surnamed Mac
X"; though ní is primarily an Irish form, nic was used in both varieties
of Gaelic. (Caitlin nic Aindreis of Dumbarton, 5/95 p. 2)
Sineidin is apparently late-period, and Toran, if it was actually used as a personal name, seems to be early. But the discontinuity is not arresting, and this seems the least problematical way to give the submitter a surname that can be interpreted as 'wife of Thorin', that being her husband's registered name. (Sinéidín Bean Thoráin, 6/95 p. 1)
The name was submitted as Cáelán ap Llwyd, in which Cáelán is Irish, and the rest, Welsh. There is a reasonable amount of evidence for Welsh/Irish combinations in names, but they should still follow one spelling convention or the other, so we have removed the distinctively Irish accents to produce what Harpy calls a `plausible Welsh borrowing of an Irish given name'. (Caelan ap Llwyd, 10/95 p. 8)
The name was submitted as Muireann Ingen Eoghain uí Maoilmheana. The early spelling of ingen (which should not be capitalized) is inconsistent with the late-period or modern Irish spellings of the rest of the name, so we have substituted the later spelling inghean. (Muireann inghean Eoghain uí Maoilmheana, 10/95 p. 10)
There is no more evidence for mixing French and Gaelic spelling conventions than there is for mixing those of English and Gaelic, so one convention or the other must be used throughout. (Chrétienne Aingeal nic Chaoindealbháin, 10/95 p. 18)
There is ... still no persuasive evidence for Liam as a period diminutive of Uilliam, so we are following the suggestion in the LoI and substituting the full form of the name. (Uilliam Óg Ó Manacháin, 11/95 p. 2)
The given name was submitted as Catriona, which cannot be justified as an English spelling, while the surname can only be English. Since the two spelling systems do not seem to have been combined in period, we have substituted the English spelling Catrina (pronounced almost identically). (Catrina MacKinnon, 12/95 p. 4)
Catriona is not a reasonable period Anglicization of Gaelic Caitriona and its variants, as may be seen from the recorded Anglo-Scottish forms Catrina and Katrina. However, the lingua anglica allowance permits it to be combined with the English version of the locative. (Catriona of Downpatrick, 1/96 p. 14)
[registering Clann an Chullaich Bhain] The name was justified as an inn name in the LoI, but this is impossible: the root meaning of clann is �plant', whence �off-shoot; children, family, offspring; descendants, race'. Thus, the name must be justified as a clan name. Extant examples of these take the form Clann <genitive case of personal name>; strict adherence to these examples would obviously rule out the present submission. However, the Dictionary of the Irish Language cites mediæval use of an Cullach �the Boar' as an epithet. This opens the possibility that the descendants of a warrior called an Cullach Bán �the White Boar' might have taken his epithet as their clan name. In view of the loose standard of authenticity to which the College has traditionally held household names, we are willing to give the name the benefit of the doubt on this point. (Somhairle O Laidhigh, 2/96 p. 15)
[returning Aoife ingen Gharbain] Aoife is a late spelling of the given name, while ingen is an early spelling, and the use of gh in the patronym but not in ingen is inconsistent. The name would be fine as Aífe ingen Garbáin, which is early, or as Aoife inghean Gharbháin, which uses a later orthography. It seems very likely that mixtures of early and late orthographic features can be found at some point; conceivably a combination like this one can be justified. But it is an exception to the patterns found in the available data; lacking both specific justification and detailed information on the sequencing of Irish orthographic changes, we are unwilling to depart from documented practice. (Aoife ingen Gharbain, 2/96 p. 21)
On Clan Names ... In the... the registration of Clan MacKenzie of Ben Duff to Eoin Mac Cainnigh (An Tir), we had to consider what a Gaelic form of the name would look like (though we ended up registering the English form). It very quickly became apparent that an English Clan MacKenzie would be a Gaelic Clann Chainnigh, literally the �clan of Cainnech'; the mac is dropped. More generally, a Gaelic clan name takes the form Clann <aspirated genitive case of personal name>; household names of this type should therefore omit the mac in Gaelic, though it appears to be perfectly acceptable in the English equivalents of such names. (CL 4/96)
The other matter came up in the registration of the name
Óengus mac Domnaill Glinne Chomair (Atlantia), a Gaelic name that
could be translated �Angus son of Donald of Glencoe'. As it happens,
there is a clan known in English as MacDonald of Glencoe, and it was suggested
that the combination of patronymic and locative was for that reason a claim
to chieftainship of the clan. However, Gaelic usage in such matters
can be surprising: it turns out that the chief is in Gaelic simply MacIain
(after the clan's progenitor). Thus, the submitted bynames are in
Gaelic simply descriptive, meaning only what they seem to say. It
appears that this example is not unique, so there may be a number of superficially
disallowed combinations that in Gaelic are not at all presumptuous; the
facts will have to be ascertained on a case-by-case basis. (CL 4/96)
[returning the locative vom Dunkelschloss] The usual generics for castle, etc. were -burg, -berg, and -stein, and somewhat less often -fels, -eck, and -feste. The few examples of schloss, none of which are clearly period, use the word as a prefix: Schloss X. Given the extreme rarity of dunkel as a placename element at all, the combination seems to make Dunkelschloss far too improbable to register. Dunkelstein, Dunkelburg, Dunkelberg, and Dunkelfels would probably all be registerable: the first element is still somewhat unlikely, but the overall construction is fine, and so the use of dunkel would be only "one weirdness". (Any of these would make as good a name for a town as for a castle, so the article dem could be dispensed with, e.g., Conrad von Dunkelfels.) If he really wants to get Schloss in there somewhere, Palimpsest recommended Conrad von Schloss Dunkelfels (or one of the other variants); this matches the actual use of Schloss in the few examples that he could find. (Again the article dem is unnecessary.) (Conrad vom Dunkelschloss, 8/94 p. 18)
The combination of German forename and Gaelic byname needs justification, at the very least. [The name was returned for this and another problem. (Hagen Seanaeiche, 12/94 p. 10)
There is ample evidence of period German use of double
given names. (Anne Liese Wolkenhaar, 5/96 p. 5)
[registering the byname Monomakh] The byname does
not seem to be presumptuous. Deriving from Greek monomakhéô
`to fight in single combat', monomákhos `fighting in single combat'
appears to be a reasonable byname for a fighter. It was used by the
Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachus and by his grandson, the Kievan
prince Vladimir II Monomakh, but it does not seem to have been hereditary
or even used by anyone else in either line. Vladimir says in his
Testament that he was given the baptismal name Vasili by his grandfather
Yaroslav `but was commonly known by [his] Russian name Vladimir, and surnamed
Monomakh by [his] beloved father and mother'; we suspect that this was
to honor his other grandfather, Constantine. (Hrothger Monomakh,
9/95 p. 18)
Group & Household see also Names-Order
[returning House of the Argent Horse] "Argent" is not a common English element; as an adjective referring to a color, its use is confined almost entirely to heraldry. English, unlike German, has no tradition of house names based on armory; the authentic usage would be White Horse. (Jonathan Thorne, 9/94 p. 18)
[registering Moneyers Guild of An Tir] Though a couple of commenters suggested that the name was too generic to register, the fact that "of An Tir" is an integral part of the name keeps it from being so. "Moneyers Guild" probably would be too generic to register. "Moneyers Guild of An Tir" is sufficiently specific to be registered. (An Tir, 4/95 p. 1)
There was a clear consensus ... that university is not an appropriate alternate designator for household. We will continue to reserve the designator university to groups approved at the kingdom or principality level either for a branch (in the same way that college is used currently as, for example, in the already registered L'Universite de la Tour d'Yvoire) or for educational institutions (for example, the already registered University of Atlantia, Royal University of Scirhafoc, University of the East Kingdom, and Royal University of Ithra). (Aliena von Bingen, Household of Saint Hildegard, 6/95 p. 1)
Some commenters were not entirely comfortable with registering this as the Household of Saint Hildegard, but as a number of equivalents for the designator (Company of Saint Hildegard, Abbey of Saint Hildegard) not only follow period exemplars but also do not cause such discomfort (probably because they follow period examples), we felt it would be unreasonable to disallow the equivalent specifically acceptable to the submitter here. (Aliena von Bingen, Household of Saint Hildegard, 6/95 p. 1)
[registering the hourshold name Ty Gafrewig Wen] `House of the White Antelope' does not seem to follow period Welsh practice in naming families and buildings, but it is well within our rather loose standards for household names. (Bronwen o Gyeweli, 9/95 p. 7)
[returning the Canton of Athanor Tor] While it is not especially unusual for place-names to refer to such common, visible pieces of equipment as mills, there is no evidence that topographic features were named after obscure pieces of alchemical equipment. (Athanor Tor, Canton of, 11/95 p. 13)
According to the Administrative Handbook, Registerable Items, B.1 (Branch Name), `[b]ranch designations included in the Branch Name are determined by the current status of the branch, not by the designation used when the Branch Name is registered'. Requests to change the designation in the SCA Armorial are not name changes and should not be included in Letters of Intent; they should be addressed directly to Laurel and Morsulus. (Ealdormere, Principality of, 12/95 p. 10)
[returning House Syrocco] The spelling syrocco is found in an English work of 1617, where it is described as the name given by the Italians to the South-East wind; this puts it within the Grey Area as a word. (The actual Italian term was apparently s(c)irocco or scilocco.) However, socio-political units do not seem to have been named after atmospheric phenomena in period. There are a few examples in which a fairly standard place-name element is modified by a word naming an atmospheric phenomenon; one is Windhill (Yorkshire West Riding). But before registering what is essentially House North-East Wind, we need evidence that such a name conforms to period practice. (Masala a'Laon, 1/96 p. 21)
[returning Haus Kaperschiff] Kaperschiff is German for a ship used by privateers. Haus Kaperschiff is therefore analogous to House Warship, House Q-Ship, and House Trawler. Such names are too generic to be registered and in any case do not follow any of the usual period models for household names (e.g., names of Scottish clans, ruling dynasties, professional guilds, military units, inns). Ships' names are probably another reasonable model, so perhaps the submitter should simply name his Kaperschiff. (Randwulf Widefarer, 1/96 p. 29)
[registering Clann an Chullaich Bhain] The name was justified as an inn name in the LoI, but this is impossible: the root meaning of clann is �plant', whence �off-shoot; children, family, offspring; descendants, race'. Thus, the name must be justified as a clan name. Extant examples of these take the form Clann <genitive case of personal name>; strict adherence to these examples would obviously rule out the present submission. However, the Dictionary of the Irish Language cites mediæval use of an Cullach �the Boar' as an epithet. This opens the possibility that the descendants of a warrior called an Cullach Bán �the White Boar' might have taken his epithet as their clan name. In view of the loose standard of authenticity to which the College has traditionally held household names, we are willing to give the name the benefit of the doubt on this point. (Somhairle O Laidhigh, 2/96 p. 15)
On Clan Names ...In the... the registration of Clan MacKenzie of Ben Duff to Eoin Mac Cainnigh (An Tir), we had to consider what a Gaelic form of the name would look like (though we ended up registering the English form). It very quickly became apparent that an English Clan MacKenzie would be a Gaelic Clann Chainnigh, literally the �clan of Cainnech'; the mac is dropped. More generally, a Gaelic clan name takes the form Clann <aspirated genitive case of personal name>; household names of this type should therefore omit the mac in Gaelic, though it appears to be perfectly acceptable in the English equivalents of such names. (CL 4/96)
The other matter came up in the registration of the name Óengus mac Domnaill Glinne Chomair (Atlantia), a Gaelic name that could be translated �Angus son of Donald of Glencoe'. As it happens, there is a clan known in English as MacDonald of Glencoe, and it was suggested that the combination of patronymic and locative was for that reason a claim to chieftainship of the clan. However, Gaelic usage in such matters can be surprising: it turns out that the chief is in Gaelic simply MacIain (after the clan's progenitor). Thus, the submitted bynames are in Gaelic simply descriptive, meaning only what they seem to say. It appears that this example is not unique, so there may be a number of superficially disallowed combinations that in Gaelic are not at all presumptuous; the facts will have to be ascertained on a case-by-case basis. (CL 4/96)
Shadewe is an attested surname; Shadewes Company is a reasonable name for a military unit organized or commanded by someone with that surname. Shadow Legion, returned 5/92 (Ilissa the Nightwatcher, Meridies), exemplifies a different construction, just as Shadewes (i.e., Shadow's) Cabinet is different from a shadow cabinet. (Olaf Blodhøx, 4/96 p. 11)
[registering Seitsemän Pyhän Unikeon veljeskunta] The household name means �Brotherhood of the Seven Holy Sleepers'; it refers to the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, who according to 6th c. legend were early Christians who were walled up in a cave near Ephesus while taking refuge from the persecution of Decius. God put them to sleep, and 200 years later they awoke to find their city Christian; soon afterward they died and were venerated as saints. The story was popularized by Gregory of Tours in the 6th century. Albion provided examples of 14th and 15th century guilds with similar names, e.g., Kolmen Pyhän Kuninkaan kilta �Guild of the Three Holy Kings'. (Peter Schneck, 5/96 p. 5)
[registering Brotherhood of the Seven Holy Sleepers of Ephesus] The submitter has chosen to protect the household name in English as well as in Finnish. Since they differ markedly in sound and appearance, the names would be independently registerable even if they were exact translations of each other, which they are not. (The English version is a trifle more explicit than the Finnish, which has nothing corresponding to of Ephesus.) No evidence has been offered for the use of such names in English, but even in the worst case the household name would be allowable as a lingua anglica version of its Finnish translation. (Peter Schneck, 5/96 p. 5)
[returning Canton of the Baronial Colleges of Nordleigh] Stylistically the name is said to be modelled on that of Kings College (Cambridge), though the obvious analogical construction would be Barons College. This is probably too generic to be registered, but we see no serious stylistic bar to registering Barons College at Nordleigh, say. Barons Colleges at Nordleigh is another matter: it seems very unlikely that two colleges within a single university would have been given the same name. We are also reluctant to allow Baronial in lieu of Barons without some support from period usage. In addition to Kings College, there are the Queens Colleges at Cambridge and Oxford, Bishops Castle in Shropshire, Countesthorpe �the countess's village' in Leicestershire, and other similar constructs to support Barons College; as a model for Baronial only Royal comes to mind. Moreover, the OED does not attest baronial until the middle of the 18th century (though it probably existed at least a bit earlier). (Baronial Colleges of Nordleigh, Canton of the, 5/96 p. 24)
[returning Canton of the Baronial Colleges of Nordleigh]
The administrative problem concerns the use of college, an officially approved
designator for an institutional branch based at a school, research facility,
or the like. The submitted name implies that the group is administratively
a canton, and it is so listed in the most recent Middle Kingdom newsletter.
The distinction is significant, since cantons and colleges are subject
to different administrative requirements. If in fact the group is
administratively a college, there is no problem: they need only drop the
words Canton of (and indeed must do so). Assuming that it is a canton,
however, the question arises: May a canton use the word college, which
as a designator has a specific (and in this case inappropriate) meaning,
as a non-designating part of its name? The relevant part of RfS III.2.b
says that a branch name �must consist of a designator that identifies the
type of entity and at least one descriptive element' and that �[t]he designator
must be appropriate to the status of the submitter'. In Canton of
the Baronial Colleges of Nordleigh it is clear from the syntax that Canton
is the required designator; the rule says nothing about the use of designators
in the descriptive part of the name, so the first requirement is technically
met, and if the group is a canton, the second requirement is met as well.
In the absence of stylistic problems we would therefore not have returned
the name. Nevertheless...the use of an administratively inappropriate
standard designator in the descriptive part of a branch name is potentially
confusing and urge the group to consider this issue before resubmitting
their name. [The name was returned for a different reason.]
(Baronial Colleges of Nordleigh, Canton of the, 5/96 p. 24)
It is customary not to capitalize the particle ben.
Had he not forbidden spelling and grammar changes, we'd have changed the
name to Eleazar ben Judah. We'd still much prefer this form; but
period practice in respect of capitalization was erratic enough that we
are not willing to return the name solely for that reason. (Eleazar
Ben Judah, 9/95 p. 12)
The consensus of the College being that we should drop
the unhistorical practice of the form of address "Lord [Heraldic title]"
and "Lady [Heraldic title]", the use of placenames for heraldic titles
need no longer be prohibited on the grounds that "Lord/Lady [placename]"
could be considered a claim to "landedness". As a consequence, the
subtext of Rule for Submission III.2.b.iii (Heraldic Titles) is hereby
replaced with the following sentence:
These are generally drawn
from surnames (Chandos Herald, Percy Herald), place-names (Windsor Herald,
Calais Pursuivant, Sicily Herald), names of heraldic charges (Crosslet
Herald, Estoile Volant Pursuivant, Noir Lyon Pursuivant), names of orders
of chivalry (Garter King of Arms), and mottos (Ich Dien Pursuivant, Esperance
Pursuivant). (CL 10/94)
[returning Ordonnance Pursuivant] The title's meaning here ("systematic arrangement, esp. of written materials ... a plan or method of literary or artistic composition") does not appear to follow any of the period exemplars for heralds' titles. (West, Kingdom of, 4/95 p. 11)
[returning Vox Draconis Pursuivant] The previous version, Dragon's Voice Pursuivant, was returned 3/95 for failure to emulate period models as required by RfS III.2.b.iii; translation into Latin doesn't bring it any closer. It was suggested that it might derive from a motto Vox draconis sum `I am the voice of the dragon', but the period examples noted all comprise the entire motto, and no evidence was presented that Vox draconis sum is a reasonable imitation of a period motto. (Caid, Kingdom of, 10/95 p. 18)
[registering Hapenny Herald] Although the submitted spelling has not been documented, it can reasonably be extrapolated from the 16th century spellings Hapeney and Happenny. The common noun halfpenny became a surname and thus a potential heraldic title. (Calontir, Kingdom of, 11/95 p. 5)
[returning Ursine Pursuivant] Ursine `bearlike' is neither a plausible motto nor a description of character or spirit and therefore does not appear actually to follow the period models that it most nearly resembles. (Meridies, 12/95 p. 19)
[returning Jessant-de-lys Pursuivant] The few apparently
adjectival period heraldic titles do not support the indiscriminate use
of adjectives as heraldic titles; all of them name qualities of character
or spirit and could reasonably serve as mottos. Jessant-de-lys is
neither a plausible motto nor a description of character or spirit, nor
is it the name of an heraldic charge; it therefore does not appear actually
to follow the period models that it most nearly resembles. (Middle,
Kingdom of, 1/96 p. 29)
Household see Group &
Household
Irish see Gaelic
[changing the byname Capulet] Shakespeare's use of Capulet is insufficient to establish it as an actual name. The available Italian sources suggest that Capulet is probably a distortion of Cap(p)elletti (and that Montague is similarly a distortion of Montecchi). We have substituted...Capelet, an occupational byname for maker of chaplets (small hats; chaplets, garlands). (Cecelya Capelet, 9/94 p. 2)
Though the LoI noted some discomfort with the use of a double surname, the byname here actually follows a period Italian practice: di {father's given name}{father's surname}. Guendalina Francesca di Antonio Cristiano, 11/94 p. 4)
This was submitted as Caterina Verdeschi on the LoI, the de' having been dropped at kingdom for lack of documentation. However, it appears that Verdeschi is interpretable as a plural or collective surname; de' Verdeschi `of the [family] Verdeschi' is then analogous to de' Medici. We have therefore restored the submitter's original form. (Caterina de'Verdeschi, 12/95 p. 12)
In period Arianna is Italian, so the locative, which was submitted as of the Windy Isles, is best interpreted as a translation, permitted under the lingua anglica allowance. The extent of this allowance was discussed in detail in the 12/95 return of Ananda the Fiery (Middle); according to the precedent there cited, it covers translations of �documented period epithets', provided that the translation has been chosen to minimize any intrusive modernity. Actual practice has been somewhat looser: not only has the College allowed non-intrusive translations of epithets thought to be compatible with the naming practices of the source language, but it has even allowed fairly generic English epithets without requiring a demonstration that they were plausible translations of period epithets from the language of the rest of the name. This latter practice can easily result in names that have very little to do with period practice in any language. Consequently, we have no qualms about requiring in such cases -- of which this is one -- that the epithet be put into a period English form. (Arianna othe Windisle, 2/96 p. 1)
We agree with the commenters who found the use of three
given names unlikely even in Italian. However, this is just one step
beyond documented practice, so the name is registerable. (Five-element
Italian names have been banned since the 9/92 return of Marco Giovanni
Drago Bianco Vento (Ansteorra).) (Matteo Alessandro Ulisse Rugieri,
6/96 p. 3)
Submitted as Lung Bai Xiong, the surname was documented from a different book than the other parts of the name, one which used a different (Wade-Giles) transliteration system from the other (Pinyin). We have modified that surname to match the transliteration system of the remainder of the name. (Long Bai Xiong, 2/95 p. 7)
No evidence has been presented for multiple surnames in Japanese. [The name was returned.] (Ko Fujibayashi Tashikage of Togakure, 11/95 p. 15)
[returning Vairocana Belnon of Uddiyana] Significant interaction between Tibet and pre-seventeenth century Western culture has not been demonstrated. The Encyclopædia Britannica dates the first visits to Tibet by Western missionaries to the 17th century, and the fact that the 8th century Tibetan kingdom had some contact with the Arab conquerors of Iran still leaves Tibetans at least two removes from Western Europe. [The name was returned for this and other problems.] (Ko Fujibayashi Tashikage of Togakure, 11/95 p. 15)
This particle [i.e. "no"] is never written out in Chinese
characters, though it is spoken and may be included when the name is written
in Roman characters. (Sekimura no Minamoto Akiranaga, 12/95 p. 11)
[registering Rígnach of Argyll] The byname is registerable by virtue of the lingua anglica allowance. (Rígnach of Argyll, 10/95 p. 14)
In period Arianna is Italian, so the locative, which was
submitted as of the Windy Isles, is best interpreted as a translation,
permitted under the lingua anglica allowance. The extent of this
allowance was discussed in detail in the 12/95 return of Ananda the Fiery
(Middle); according to the precedent there cited, it covers translations
of �documented period epithets', provided that the translation has been
chosen to minimize any intrusive modernity. Actual practice has been
somewhat looser: not only has the College allowed non-intrusive translations
of epithets thought to be compatible with the naming practices of the source
language, but it has even allowed fairly generic English epithets without
requiring a demonstration that they were plausible translations of period
epithets from the language of the rest of the name. This latter practice
can easily result in names that have very little to do with period practice
in any language. Consequently, we have no qualms about requiring
in such cases -- of which this is one -- that the epithet be put into a
period English form. (Arianna othe Windisle, 2/96 p. 1)
This spelling of the byname appears in the OED as the Danish form. Given the Danish presence in England, I can find no compelling reason not to give the submitter his desired spelling. (Ædward Stadefæste, 7/94 p. 6)
The patronymic was Gaelic with the remainder of the name was Englished. As no examples have yet been adduced for combing fully Gaelic forms with Englished forms, we have made the smallest change possible and Englished the patronymic. (Ian MacIneirie of Inverary, 10/94 p. 7)
A combination of an Old English forename with what can only be a fairly late English form of an Irish surname is too far from period practice. [The name was returned.] (Wege Teague, 10/94 p. 12)
The modern English form of the Irish patronym is entirely inconsistent with an Old English given name. [The name was returned.] (Beornheard O'Dea, 10/94 p. 14)
Margaret is far, far too late to be combined with the name of an early Irish tribe (they arrived in Ireland between 500 and 100 B.C.) With a temporal difference of a millennium or more. [The name was returned.] (Margaret of the Érainn, 10/94 p. 16)
The combination of German forename and Gaelic byname needs justification, at the very least. [The name was returned for this and another problem. (Hagen Seanaeiche, 12/94 p. 10)
While the Rules for Submission on "Name Grammar and Syntax" do note in the subtext that "As a rule of thumb, languages should be used together only if there was substantial contact between the cultures that spoke those languages, and a name should not combine more than three languages.", the requirement in the statement of the rule itself is that such combinations must follow documented patterns". No one yet has presented any documentation for mixed Gaelic/English names, either in period or since. Such a combination therefore follows no documented pattern whatsoever. [The name was returned.] (Duncan MacGriogair of Hawkwood, 1/95 p. 12)
Submitted as William Ethelwulf Bruce, Ethelwulf is entirely out of place in the remainder of the name. (Please remember, Anglo-Saxon and 17th Century English are two entirely different languages. We have dropped the problematic element in order to register the name. (William Bruce, 2/95 p. 7)
No documentation has been found for combined Norse-English/Arabic names. [The name was returned.] (Eric Ibrahim Mozarab, 2/95 p. 14)
The question of mixed Gaelic/English names appears to
have been widely misunderstood. The legitimacy of combining names
of Gaelic origin with names of English (or for that matter French or Norse)
origin has never been in question; but it should be done in a reasonable
way. What distinguishes this particular combination from most others
is that Gaelic orthographic conventions are startlingly different from
those of English; the English and Gaelic "codes" for representing sounds
are very dissimilar. For example, English doesn't use bh or mh for
the sound of v; Gaelic does not use the letter v. Writing Gaelic
names in an English setting is therefore akin to transliterating Chinese,
Russian, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic names: although the alphabet is largely
familiar, many of the phonetic values of its letters and letter combinations
are not. For example, the symbols Ainmire Ó Catháin
are in English a very poor representation of the name; the Anglicization
Anvirre O Kaane, on the other hand, is an excellent representation according
to the conventions of sixteenth century English. Note that differences
in spelling conventions between such languages as French and German are
small by comparison and were even smaller in period.
We regularly require that Chinese names use a single
transliteration system throughout, whether Pinyin or Wade-Giles.
Similarly, we have required reasonable consistency of transliteration of
Russian and Arabic names, modifying submitted forms to avoid glaring inconsistencies.
Are we then to ignore the documentary evidence and allow widely divergent
transliteration systems in this instance? All of the evidence found
to date demonstrates that mixed Gaelic and English names were written according
to a single set of spelling conventions, either Gaelic or English.
(This is not to claim that either of these systems was itself entirely
uniform, of course.) After all the discussion on this issue, no one
yet has presented any evidence that supports anything but consistency of
transliteration in either Gaelic or Anglicized Gaelic (well, okay, or Latin)
for Gaelic/English names; consistency which we already require for names
in a number of other languages.
As a consequence, it is my belief that we should require
consistent transliterations of Gaelic/English names: such names should
be spelled according to Gaelic conventions or according to English conventions,
but should not drastically switch spelling conventions from Gaelic to English
or vice versa in mid-name. (CL 5/95)
[changing Dirk Ivanovich] No one produced evidence of sufficient interaction between the Low Countries and Russia in period to justify the combination. (Direk Ivanovich, 8/95 p. 5)
Three given names are almost non-existent in period, but Ensign noted the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia (of Austria), 1566-1633, daughter of Philip II of Spain and Elizabeth of Valois. (Ana Isabella Julietta Borja, 9/95 p. 1)
Such a Russian/English combination is extremely improbable in period. [The name was registered.] (Tatiana Mitford, 9/95 p. 9)
In the absence of any evidence for Polish/English names, this combination seems a bit too improbable to register. (Ladislaus de Brady, 9/95 p. 25)
The name was submitted as Cáelán ap Llwyd, in which Cáelán is Irish, and the rest, Welsh. There is a reasonable amount of evidence for Welsh/Irish combinations in names, but they should still follow one spelling convention or the other, so we have removed the distinctively Irish accents to produce what Harpy calls a `plausible Welsh borrowing of an Irish given name'. (Caelan ap Llwyd, 10/95 p. 8)
[registering Rígnach of Argyll] The byname is registerable by virtue of the lingua anglica allowance. (Rígnach of Argyll, 10/95 p. 14)
There is no more evidence for mixing French and Gaelic spelling conventions than there is for mixing those of English and Gaelic, so one convention or the other must be used throughout. (Chrétienne Aingeal nic Chaoindealbháin, 10/95 p. 18)
The French surname tacked onto an otherwise thoroughly Russian name is implausible. Justification would appear to depend on a persona story rather than on evidence from period naming practice. Nevertheless, the persona story in question - Russian girl marries French trader and adopts his surname - is probably within current limits of acceptability. [The name was registered.] (Dasha Miloslava Broussard, 1/96 p. 6)
Catriona is not a reasonable period Anglicization of Gaelic Caitriona and its variants, as may be seen from the recorded Anglo-Scottish forms Catrina and Katrina. However, the lingua anglica allowance permits it to be combined with the English version of the locative. (Catriona of Downpatrick, 1/96 p. 14)
[returning Lassarina of Esclavonia] Esclavonia is an older name for Slavonia, once the eastern part of the kingdom of Croatia and later a part of Yugoslavia [editor's note: now an independent nation]; Lassarina is an Anglicized (or Latinized) Irish given name. No evidence was offered of cultural contact sufficient to support this combination, which seems quite improbable. (Lassarina of Esclavonia, 2/96 p. 20)
The combination of Old English and Old Norse can probably
be justified for the Danelaw, though the available evidence suggests that
such spellings as Ulfric and Wlfric (probably representing Old Swedish
or Old Danish Ulfrik) were the norm. (Wulfric Gylðir, 3/96 p.
8)
The Legal Name Allowance in Practice, or How to Appeal to RfS II.4. A submitter who wishes to appeal to RfS II.4 (Legal Name Allowance) must provide evidence justifying the appeal. A photocopy of a driver's license, passport, birth certificate, or other standard form of identification will do nicely. In general we are willing to accept the word of the herald preparing the LoI that he or she knows so-and-so to be the submitter's mundane name, but documentation removes all doubt. We do need to know the full name, however, since the application of RfS II.4 to a name element depends on how that element is used in the modern name. (CL 8/95)
Lea is the submitter's modern middle name. As Laurel noted in returning Needham Bledsoe (10/91 LoAR, Outlands), a modern middle name may be used as a Society given name only if it is a given name by type, and Lea is not; originally: it is a locative surname derived from Old English leah `glade; meadow; wood'. [The name was returned for this and other reasons.] (Lea of Crystal Mountain, 11/95 p. 12)
The name was submitted as Bryn y Pobydd, intended to mean
�Bryn the Baker', Bryn being the submitter's modern given name. However,
bryn is also Welsh for �hill', and the name is a Welsh phrase meaning �the
baker's hill'; it would have made an excellent place-name. In this
context the modern name Bryn is unusually intrusive; if the language involved
were as widely known as French, say, we would have returned the name.
(Thus, for example, we would not register Champ des Croix �field of the
crosses' even to someone whose modern given name was Champ.) Welsh
being much less familiar, we have given the name the benefit of the doubt,
but we have also thought it desirable to bring the name closer to normal
Welsh naming practice by dropping the definite article and leniting the
byname. (Bryn Bobydd, 4/96 p. 2)
Table of Contents of Precedents of Da'ud Ibn Auda, 2nd Tenure