ACCEPTANCES

NOVEMBER 1995

THE FOLLOWING HAVE BEEN REGISTERED:

AN TIR

Aurora de Venetiis. Name and device. Per bend sinister purpure and Or, a pegasus passant to sinister argent and a pegasus passant sable.

The name was submitted as Aurora Venetiae on the LoI, changed at kingdom from Aurora de Venetiae. The intended meaning is Aurora of Venice, which in Latin can be expressed either by means of an adjective or with the preposition de followed by the place-name in the ablative case. We have chosen the latter as being closer to her original submission and have followed the preponderance of the evidence in taking the place-name to be Venetiæ, declined as a first declension plural noun with ablative Venetiis.

Briana Galbraith MacCrimmon. Badge. Per bend sinister sable and argent, a thistle and a card-pique counterchanged.

Catelin MacBain. Name only (see RETURNS for device).

The name was submitted as Caitlin MacBain. Unfortunately, the ai in Caitlin can only be a Gaelic spelling; in English it did not represent the sound actually spoken. Since she pronounces the name `KATE-linn' and wishes to preserve the sound, we have substituted the documented English spelling Catelin.

Cynric Goodwine. Device. Per chevron azure and gules, three bunches of grapes argent.

Cyrus Michel O'Flaherty. Badge. Sable, a shepherd's crook reversed and in base a mullet of eight points Or.

Dianna of the Silver Shore. Device. Vert, a lion sejant Or holding in its dexter paw a rose argent, on a chief Or three ermine spots fesswise sable.

Elewyn Blackthorn. Name and device. Argent goutty de sang, a lion rampant queue-forchy between three roses sable.

The name was submitted as Elowyn Blackthorn, Elowyn being justified as a constructed Anglo-Norman version of Continental Germanic Ali-winus, attested as Elewini. Unfortunately, this derivation cannot well account for the medial o in Elowyn. (The attested spelling Aloinus of Ala-winus is not really to the point, since oi is a Romance spelling of Germanic wi; an analogous spelling of Ali-winus would be Eloinus.) Being unable to come up with any derivation that would justify Elowyn, we have substituted a slightly different form that could derive either from the Continental Germanic name or from Old English Ælfwine, Æelwine, Ælfwynn, Æelwynn, and probably Ealhwynn. (The last three sources are feminine; the rest are masculine.) Blackthorn is a very late spelling to be paired with a name from any of these sources; Blak(e)thorn is likelier.

Gunther the Boastful. Name and device. Per pale Or and argent, a bull's head caboshed sable, on a chief vert three mullets argent.

Gunter Boste would have been a wonderfully authentic Middle English name with the desired meaning.

Keinwen Ragnarsdottir. Name and device. Argent, a columbine purpure slipped and leaved vert, on a chief purpure four lozenges argent.

An early Norse borrowing of Welsh Keinwen would more likely have been spelled Keinven, but there are many 14th and 15th century examples of Sveinn spelled with Sw. (Spellings like Alfwer, noted in the LoI, are misleading: fw is a digraph rather than two independent letters.) We have therefore dropped the accent from Ragnarsdóttir to get a better match with the late orthographic tradition of the given name.

Keinwen Ragnarsdottir. Badge. [Fieldless] A columbine purpure slipped and leaved vert.

Kyneburgh Ceridwen MacDougall. Name.

The name was submitted as Cyneburh Ceridwen MacDougall, which contains at least four `weirdnesses': (1) the names are from three different cultures and languages; (2) Ceridwen seems not to have been used by human beings in period and is allowed only on sufferance; (3) there is a huge chronological gap between Cyneburh and MacDougall; and (4) the overall structure has been documented only for the language of the weakest element (Ceridwen) or for a date completely incompatible with Cyneburh. We have replaced the given name with a later form to ameliorate the last two and consider the first two not quite extreme enough to warrant further changes. Nevertheless, the name would be far more authentic without the Ceridwen.

Raven Blackthorne. Name and device. Per chevron inverted argent and sable, a raven displayed head facing sinister and a cat-of-nine-tails enfiled with a manacle counterchanged.

An earlier spelling of the surname (Blak(e)thorn) would better match the relatively early given name.

Rioghnach Lachlann. Name.

The byname posed an interesting problem, since Gaelic naming practice seems not to use unmarked patronymics. (Black's article on Lachlan in The Surnames of Scotland has a couple of apparent examples of such surnames, but they occur with English given names and can safely be ascribed to English usage. The citations in his article on Maclachlan show the Gaelic usage.) Fortunately, Lachlann was a place-name before it was a given name. It derives from Lothlainn, an early term for some part of Scandinavia; as Lochlainn and Lochlann it is glossed `Scandinavia' in Dinneen's Irish dictionary and Maclennan's Scots Gaelic dictionary respectively. The ch form is period for the place-name: the Dictionary of the Irish Language cites Ebdonn ri Lochlann `Ebdonn king of Lochlann' from the Annals of Ulster for the year 1263. Finally, the attestations of the personal name offer evidence for a dialectal variant Lachlann, so Rioghnach Lachlann may be at worst a late-period dialect spelling of Ríoghnach Lochlann, itself a modern Irish spelling of an earlier Rígnach Lochlann meaning `Rignach of Scandinavia'.

Uilliam Óg Ó Manacháin. Name.

As noted in the LoI, Liam has previously been returned as a post-period diminutive of Uilliam (e.g., Liam ó Dubhgaill, East, 7/92 LoAR). The present case for the name rests on a statement in MacLysaght's Surnames of Ireland in the article on Willmore: `Better known now as Mac Liammóir. It is on record in Co. Tyrone in the sixteenth century.' Lions Blood takes this to mean that there was a name, Willmore in English and Mac Liammóir in Irish, that existed in the 16th century in both versions, the former being more popular then, while the latter is now more popular. Since Mac Liammóir is clearly `son of Big Liam', this reading would show that Liam was a period diminutive.

Harpy reads MacLysaght's statement quite differently, interpreting the pronoun `It' to refer only to the form Willmore. It appears that her reading is correct: in his More Irish Families (p. 211), MacLysaght says that he has `not met any near-Gaelic anglicized form of the name'. The Co. Tyrone citation is from a 1596 Fiant pardoning Anne Willmore and others, and Woulfe (Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall, p. 36) notes that at that time Anglicization of Irish names was almost invariably phonetic. It seems very likely, therefore, that her name really was Willmore, an English name of quite different origin of which Mac Liammóir is a later Gaelicization based on an incorrect etymology.

There is therefore 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. Since the fada has been used elsewhere, we have added it to the epithet óg `young'.

ATENVELDT

Caesaria Almy. Household name for Greenbriar Keep (see RETURNS for badge).

The household name was submitted as Green Briar Keep; we have slightly modified it to follow documented period practice.

Crystyl of Dael Beorht. Holding name and device. Per pale sable and argent, three lion's heads jessant-de-lys counterchanged and a chief Or.

Submitted with the name Lea of Crystal Mountain.

Gillian de la Luz. Device. Per fess sable and argent, three candles one and two argent flammant proper and three needles conjoined in pile sable.

Maeve Reynebaud of Falconskeep. Name and device. Sable, on a chevron argent five roses purpure barbed and seeded proper in base a falcon striking Or.

The name was submitted as Maeve Reynebaud of Falcon's Keep; we have slightly modified the locative to conform to documented period practice.

Megan de Guillaume. Device. Per saltire purpure and argent, in pale two snowflakes and in fess two fleurs-de-lys all within a bordure counterchanged.

This is being registered under our general policy for "hardship" cases. This device was originally submitted before the ban on the registration of snowflakes was proposed, but owing to problems with the then holder of the office of principal herald, was not forward before such ban went into effect.

Penelope the Weaver. Name and device. Per pale azure and argent, a domestic cat courant contourny and a point pointed counterchanged.

William Griffin Blackthorne. Device. Gules, a griffin's head contourny couped on a chief argent a staff entwined with a leafless vine thorned sable.

ATLANTIA

Alasdair Mac Iain of Elderslie. Household name for Dun an Leomhainn Bhig.

The household name was submitted as Dùn na Leómhainne Bheag on the LoI, partly corrected from the submitter's Dùn Leómhann Beag; it is intended to be Gaelic for `Castle or Fort of the Little Lion'. The modern Scots Gaelic is actually Dùn an Leòmhainn Bhig, but the accents (in contrast with the acute accents of Irish Gaelic) are post-period, so we have dropped them. Documented examples of such names refer to animals actually found in Scotland and Ireland (buck, grouse, stag, cattle); but Irish léo or léoman `lion' was often applied to warriors, so we are giving the name the benefit of the doubt.

Alwyn Kenweard. Name.

The spelling of the byname is improbable: the Ken- for Cyne- is significantly later than the ea digraph in -weard. Withycombe's Domesday Book citation of Keneweard seems to be a phantom: it isn't in Feilitzen's complete collection, and Feilitzen's list of forms shows that the deuterotheme -weard is very consistently spelled with simple a, very occasionally with o or e. After the Conquest ea would have been a very conservative spelling. Ken- would have been the exact opposite: in Domesday Book it seems to be an Anglo-Norman spelling convention, and later on it often represents a dialectal development in Middle English.

Anne Isabella del Gardin. Device. Purpure, a heart and on a chief argent a vine vert.

Bright Hills, Barony of. Name and badge for Award of the Augean Stables. [Fieldless] On a mountain of three peaks couped argent a decrescent sable.

Bright Hills, Barony of. Name for Order of Job.

Bright Hills, Barony of. Name and badge for Award of the Shell and Crescent. [Fieldless] On an escallop inverted sable a decrescent argent.

Bright Hills, Barony of. Name only for Award of the Silberberg (see RETURNS for badge).

Bright Hills, Barony of. Name and badge for Award of the Silver Scroll. [Fieldless] On a mountain of three peaks couped sable an open scroll fesswise argent.

Bright Hills, Barony of. Name and badge for Award of the Silver Oak Leaf. [Fieldless] On an oak leaf argent a heart gules.

Cáemfind ingen Chobhthaig. Device. Or fretty vert, on a chief sable three equal-armed Celtic crosses couped plain Or.

Francesca la Curiosa. Device. Azure, two piles and a pile inverted Or each charged with a crescent azure.

John Christian. Name.

Kaylun of Bedford. Name and device. Ermine, a lion sejant erect affronty per pale azure and Or the head counterchanged, in chief a label couped sable all within a bordure engrailed gules.

Kaylun is his modern first name. And while it looks strange, it sounds quite similar to Irish Caolán.

Mathaeus Blades. Name.

Maura McCrery. Name.

Rosalie of Blackheath. Name and device. Per pale azure and Or, on a chief two mullets all counterchanged.

Sanchia Cabrillo. Name.

Timothy Kirkwood. Device. Per pale Or and purpure, three billets counterchanged.

William of Øland. Household name for House of William.

House of William parallels House of Tudor, since Tudor is merely the Welsh given name Tudur.

CAID

Alfric Alfricson. Name.

The name was submitted as Ælfric Ælfricson on the LoI, changed at kingdom from Alfric Alfricson for want of documentation for the latter. Since Alfric occurs frequently in Domesday Book, we have restored the submitter's form. The form of the patronymic is more characteristic of the 14th century, but there is some evidence for Alfric at that date.

Caointighern nic Thiobraide. Name.

The name was submitted as Caíntigern nic Tiobraide on her form. However, Caíntigern is spelled according to early Irish conventions, while Tiobraide, which must be aspirated after nic, is a late-period or modern form. A consistently early form would be Caíntigern ingen Thipraite; a consistently late one, Caointighern nic Thiobraide. Her form suggests that the patronymic is the most important part of the name to her, so we have chosen the later form.

The accompanying device and badge withdrawn from consideration at the request of the submitter.

Dagan Cleirech. Name and device. Per pale Or and vert semy of shamrocks counterchanged.

The name was submitted as Dagan Cleireach (with a typo in the LoI making the byname Cliereach). The two elements are spelled according to the conventions of different periods: Dagán is early, while cléireach `cleric, clerk' is late-period or modern. To avoid changing the given name, we have substituted the older form of the byname. (The modern form would be Daghán Cléireach.) The name is excellent: the epithet is even attested in just this form. (The documentation in the LoI, however, refers to a different name, the early hereditary surname Ua Cléirigh, which is from Cléirech as a given name.)

Dmitri Alexandrovich Liadov. Name and badge (see RETURNS for device). Per saltire purpure and vert, an apple within in pale two feathers in annulo Or.

Etienne of Burgundy. Device. Azure, a sheaf of arrows inverted Or between three fleurs-de-lys argent.

Garth of Cattail Bog. Device. Quarterly sable and azure, a dragonfly within an orle argent.

Grace of Fairhaven. Device. Checky argent and gules, a wolf passant within a bordure sable.

Marie Elaine de Womwell. Name.

Nicolete de Brabant. Name.

Rhonwen of Watkins Hall. Name and device. Vert, on a bend between two dolmens Or a spade sable.

The name was submitted as Ronwen of Watkins Hall on the LoI, changed at kingdom from Rhonwen. In any form the name has been found in period only as that of a fictional character in Geoffrey of Monmouth's writings (and those who used his material), but it has been declared SCA-compatible. We have restored the submitter's spelling, which occurs in the writings of the Welsh poet Tudur Aled c. 1500.

Richard Surefoot Mallory. Device. Per pale argent and gules, a dragon gules and a natural tiger argent marked sable combattant, in chief three crossbows, a bordure counterchanged.

As most of the commenters correctly guessed, though the tincture was missing in the LoI, the dragon is gules. Given that most of the commenters did correctly guess the tincture and noted that they checked for conflict under that guess, Laurel does not feel it needs to be pended for research under the corrected blazon.

Sophia de Forest. Name.

Trahaearn O Connachtaigh. Device. Per pale vert and Or, a trefoil counterchanged.

Tristan of Carreg Wen. Device. Per chevron gules ermined argent and sable, on a chevron argent two arrows inverted sable and in base a wolf passant argent.

Valinda Mathie. Name.

Valinda is a reasonable variant of the attested Continental Germanic name Walinda 853, and Mathe 1195, Mathy 1273, Mathie 1332 is a pet form of Matthew. Walendis 947 brings the names in some recognizable form within 300 years of each other, but the combination remains very unlikely. In Old French Walinda would probably become Galent (Walent in some dialects); either of these would more plausibly combine with Mathie.

Wilihelm Roderick FitzLovel of Kerr. Alternate persona name change of Red Wulf Ragnarson from Redwulf Kerr.

The name is intended to be an Anglicization of Old Norse Rau-Úlfr `Red Ulf'. We have no evidence for prefixed bynames in Old English, but in Middle English such examples as Broun Edrith 1255, Adam Brounadam 1329, Agnes Greyadam 1297, and John Whithobbe 1381 clearly support the construction <hair color> <given name> (P. H. Reaney, The Origin of English Surnames, p. 238). The Old English Wulf does not seem to have survived into this period, but the borrowed Scandinavian name was quite common as Ulf, Vlf, or Wlf; given this last form, we have given him the benefit of the doubt on the spelling.

CALONTIR

Aislinn of Spinning Winds. Device change. Per chevron azure and Or, a sun Or and a cat couchant guardant counter-ermine.

Her currently registered device, Per saltire argent and vert, in pale two minks statant sable and in fess two lozenges argent, is released.

Andrew of Locking. Name and device. Or, in pale two keys in saltire wards to chief and a falcon striking vert.

Bevin Kilbride. Device. Per bend sinister argent and azure, two trees counterchanged within a bordure gules.

Brice Jacob. Name only (see RETURNS for device).

Calontir, Kingdom of. Title of 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.

Cathyn Fitzgerald. Name change from Cathyn Bluesword.

The name was submitted as Cathyn Fitzgerald of Kildare. There is a long-standing precedent against combining a Scottish clan name with the name of its seat, a precedent confirmed in the 3/93 registration of Alexander MacIntosh of Islay (Middle). By the same reasoning the combination Fitzgerald of Kildare must be prohibited: between 1316 and 1766 one of the major branches of the Fitzgeralds were Earls of Kildare. We have therefore dropped the locative to register the rest of the name.

Ciarán Dubh Ó Tuathail. Name only (see RETURNS for device).

The name was submitted as Ciaran O Tuathail Dubh on the LoI, changed at kingdom from Ciarán O Tuathail an Dubh. We have corrected the grammar to reflect his apparent intention to have the byname `[the] Black' refer to himself, and we have added the missing fada for the sake of consistency. If he wishes to be of the line of Tuathal Dubh, the name should be Ciarán Ó Tuathail Dhuibh.

Conall Ó Cathaláin. Name and device. Azure, a pale argent between two wolves rampant Or, a chief enarched argent.

The name was submitted as Connal O'Cathalan on the LoI and as Conall O'Cathalán on his form; we have corrected the grammar and spelling of the patronymic.

Conrad Abelard. Name and device. Argent, in pale three crosses formy sable between flaunches gules.

Cordelia Wynne. Name.

Cordelia must be given the benefit of the doubt: according to Withycombe, it was in actual use by 1636, and close variants can be found in period, at least in literature.

Donal O'Corcrane. Name.

The name was submitted as Donal O'Corcrain on the LoI. O'Corcrain is a misreading of Ó Corcráin, which would go fine with Irish Domhnall; to keep the Anglicized Donal we have substituted an Anglicized form of the patronymic.

Duncan Mac Cracken. Name.

The name was submitted as Duncan MacCracken on the LoI; we have changed the spacing of the surname to match his form.

Fearghus O'Shannon. Device. Per chevron azure and barry wavy argent and vert, in chief two natural tiger's jambes erased argent marked sable.

Please ask him to draw the waves of the lower part of the field more boldly.

Genevieve Penrose. Badge. Gules, a heart per pale azure and Or.

Heather MakKinzie of Weir. Name and device. Purpure mullety Or, a moon in her plenitude argent.

Heather is her modern given name.

Versus Deormund Wulfscyld, Purpure estoilly Or, in pale a moon in her complement and a dexter gauntlet appaumy argent, there is a CD for removing the charge in base and another for the difference between mullets and estoiles.

Houndsford, Canton of. Badge. Barry wavy argent an azure, a dog's pawprint inverted Or.

Isabeau MacPherson. Device. Per saltire azure and argent, a catamount's head erased sable between four fleurs-de-lys counterchanged.

Katya Feodorovna Medvednikova. Device. Per fess indented azure and argent, a bear passant guardant contourny and a rose counterchanged.

Please inform the submitter that the indents should be drawn much more boldly.

Kitsu no Taro. Name change from Musashi Taro.

Kitsu no Taro is the spoken form of the name; when a Japanese name is written in characters, the particle no is never written.

Klara Tschudi. Name.

Lois an der Baumhecke. Name.

We are giving the name the benefit of the doubt. No evidence was presented that Germany shared the late-period English vogue for resurrecting obscure Biblical names, but the name can also be somewhat tenuously justified as a combination of Old French Loïs (i.e., Louis) with a German byname. The preposition von seems generally not to be used in topographical bynames; one finds instead an `at', and sometimes vor `in front of', hinter `behind', and the like, much as in English. We have therefore substituted an for the submitted von.

Lydia of Sardis. Device. Or, two pheasants addorsed tails crossed in saltire and on a chief vert five lozenges Or.

Modric Deodatus. Name only (see PENDING for device).

Modric is probably Continental Germanic, not Old English, which makes the Latin byname if anything even more appropriate.

Morwenn Ddu Wystl. Name and device. Sable, a seahorse within a bordure erminois.

Double descriptive Welsh bynames are rare but not unknown; Harpy provides the example Gwen Vaur Goch `Big Red Gwen' 1292-3.

Morwenn Ddu Wystl. Badge. [Fieldless] An ermine spot Or.

Pieter Zell. Name and device. Per fess azure and argent fretty vert, in chief a lion dormant Or.

Rhieinwylydd Cyfeiliog. Name.

The byname appeared as Cyfeilog in the LoI, but it was correct on her form.

Ruaidhri ua Ceallaigh. Name.

The name was submitted as Ruaidhri uí Ceallaigh; we have corrected plural uí to the required singular ua.

Sean Breathnach. Name and device. Sable, a tree blasted and eradicated and on a chief argent a leaved vine throughout sable.

The name was submitted as Sean Brannagh, which combines Irish and English spelling systems in a way that doesn't seem to have been done in period. We have preserved the Irish given name as submitted and substituted the Irish form of the surname; Shane Brannagh would be an equally acceptable completely Anglicized form. (All three versions have about the same pronunciation.)

Seumas Sionnach Geal. Badge. [Fieldless] On an escallop inverted argent a sea-moose vert.

Tatiana Aleksandrovna. Device. Or, a female centaur passant within a bordure gules.

Theodric Rotbart. Name.

The name was submitted as Theodric Rot Bert, the byname intended to be German for `red beard'. The byname is authentically mediæval; we have merely corrected the spelling.

Thorkell Sigurdson. Name and device. Gules semy of decrescents, a stag's head affronty erased and a base Or.

Note that the usual forms of the patronymic are Sigurarson and Sigursson; Sigurdson is a relatively uncommon variant of the latter, which is primarily a 14th and 15th century form.

Tova Thorfinnsdottir. Name.

The name was submitted as Tovi Thorfinnsdottir, but Old Norse Tovi (a variant of Tófi) is a man's name; the corresponding feminine name is Tófa, of which Tova is an acceptable variant. Possibly the Wendish feminine name recorded in the runic inscription that is the ultimate source of the documentation ultimately was actually Tovi, though even this isn't clear; the name is given in the documentation as `Tovi [or Tova]', and the limitations of the runic alphabets sometimes significantly distort spellings. But even if it was, a Norseman is very unlikely to have given his daughter what everyone would have heard as a man's name, especially when a similar woman's name was ready to hand in Tófa. We have therefore substituted the feminine Old Norse given name to match the feminine form of the patronymic.

MIDDLE

Afonlyn, Shire of. Device. Azure, on a bend argent between two laurel wreaths Or, three seeblatter palewise azure.

Ami of Cynnabar. Holding name and device. Per chevron rayonny gules and argent, in base a Thor's hammer sable.

Please ask the submitter to draw the rayonny more boldly. Submitted with the name Daguet Osgood.

Angelique Valérien de Léon. Name and device. Purpure, in pale a cherub argent and a lion dormant Or.

The name was submitted as Angelique Valerian de Leon on the LoI; her form had Angelique Vallerian de Léon. Since she allows changes and appears to want a French name, we have corrected the spelling of the patronymic to match the available documentation.

Annabel Carnegie. Device. Vert, on a pall barry wavy argent and azure a sun Or.

Aonghus Macadair. Device. Per chevron gules and Or, three oak trees couped counterchanged fructed counterchanged.

Ariel of Dragonsmark. Name and device. Per bend sinister azure and purpure, a unicorn passant within an annulet argent.

Please inform her that as a pre-seventeenth century name used by human beings, Ariel is an ancient Hebrew man's name (Ezra 8:16). The registered name of her group is actually Dragon's Mark, but we are quite willing to allow the spelling Dragonsmark as being more in line with period practice.

The device had been pended from the September Laurel meeting because the name had not yet been considered.

Degary Golafre of Pembroke. Name and device. Quarterly sable and gules, a griffin segreant coward bearing in her dexter talon a Celtic cross and in her sinister talon a sword inverted Or.

Eleanor Isabeau le Coeur. Device. Per pale azure and vert, a heart within an orle of fleurs-de-lys argent.

Gundric Fawkes. Device. Per chevron embattled Or and vert, two falcons close respectant jessed and a goblet counterchanged.

Julienne la Follette. Name.

Lothar von Katzenellenbogen. Name change from Lothar Gottfried von Katzenellenbogen and device change. Or, in saltire five lion's jambes couped at the shoulder gules.

His currently registered device, Sable, semy of comets reversed, issuant from base a demi-sun argent, becomes a badge. His badge, Or, in saltire five lion's jambes couped at the shoulder reversed gules, is released.

Manus MacDhaibhidh. Name only (see RETURNS for device).

Rosamund of Trenchfield. Name and device. Argent, on a pine tree couped vert a Latin cross argent, a bordure vert.

Trench `a cutting, a ditch' is a Middle English borrowing from Old French; in English it could also mean `a path cut through a wood'. It appears in a number of Middle English minor place-names and in Trench Lane in Worcestershire and The Trench in Kent (A. H. Smith, English Place-Name Elements, vol. II, p. 185). Trenchfield is a very unlikely name for a community, but it could be the name of a field and thus the name of a farm. Field is a very late spelling, however; the name would be more consistently mediæval as Rosamund atte Trenchfeld. (She might like to know that Dichefeld is a more likely period English translation of her mundane surname.)

Sigrid of the Northlands. Name.

An attested period expression of the idea is del North 1230; Sigrid othe North would be excellent.

Timothy O'Byrne. Device. Gules, a dove displayed proper, on a chief argent an arrow fesswise sable.

As noted by several commenters, the dove proper in heraldry is argent with red or pink beak and legs.

Uta von dem Lindenwald. Name and device. Gules, in pall three linden leaves stems conjoined Or.

OUTLANDS

Bofharrach, Shire of. Name only (see PENDING for device).

Bran Davison of Clan Chattan. Name and device. Sable, a chevron ployé between two tabors and a boar's head couped Or.

The name was submitted as Bran Davidson of Clan Chattan on the LoI, but his form indicates that he would prefer Davison and Black, p.202, cites John Davison 1426.

Hadya al-Katiba of Karnak. Name.

The name was submitted as Hadya al-Katiba of Karnak on the LoI, but her form omits the hyphen.

Halfdan Blackwood the Gray. Device change. Sable semy of oak leaves argent, two dragon's heads couped addorsed Or and on a chief triangular argent a compass star sable.

His currently registered device, Per bend sinister sable and argent a double bitted axe and a fir tree counterchanged, is retained as a badge.

Ian the Fariner of Dunkeld. Name change from Uther Clavis and device. Quarterly sable and azure, a wyvern displayed head facing sinister argent in chief a sun Or.

Though drawn in an unblazonable position in the mini-emblazon in the LoI, the monster's head in the large emblazon was in the expected position for head facing sinister.

James David of Argentias. Name and device. Azure, a pall argent and in chief an eye proper.

The name was submitted as James David of Argens, changed at kingdom from Argenteus. While we cannot support Argenteus, Morlet (vol. III, p. 26) does cite Argentias 1025 as an early form of the place-name Argences. The French preposition de would be preferable.

Knut Eldfimr. Name change from Knut the Inflammable.

Laurel O'Rourke. Name and device. Argent, on a saltire engrailed azure, an escarbuncle argent.

Laurel has not been shown to be period, but it is her modern given name. As a given name it is no more presumptuous than Rose, which we have registered many times (and as recently as 6/95): the names of Society orders are neither titles nor styles of address.

Please ask her to draw the engrailing a bit more pronouncedly.

Mael Marden. Badge for House Ravenkeep. Sable, on a saltire nowy Or a raven's head erased sable.

Maura Ballard. Name only (see RETURNS for device).

Morcar of Axbridge. Name and device. Argent, two fireballs in pale sable flammant gules and a gore sinister sable.

He may prefer the completely Old English version Morcar of Axanbrycge, since he asked that the name be made correct for `Saxon' (apparently meaning Anglo-Saxon or Old English). But since he also indicated that the sound of the name was important to him, we have preferred not to make so great a change.

Roderick Conall MacLeod. Name.

Roger Lacy du Lac. Name and device. Per pall Or, azure and gules, a Lacy knot gules and two more Or.

Shimshon Aryeh ben Avraham. Device. Per pale gules and sable, a lion passant reguardant between three columns fracted Or.

Though no columns fracted have been registered before, this seems a reasonable extension of the already-registered sword fracted.

Victoria of Ribe. Name and device. Argent, a winged tyger sejant erect vert within a bordure dovetailed azure.

Weltschin von Wertheim. Name and device. Per chevron rayonny sable and purpure, a cannon reversed and a cannon in chevron argent issuing flames proper and a bison courant argent.

Weltschin is a pet form of Walter.

Windkeep, Shire of. Badge. Argent, a griffin passant to sinister and a base embattled sable.

WEST

Doireann ní Dhonnchadha. Name.

Eowyn d'Agincourt. Name and device. Per chevron inverted embattled vert and ermine, a rose argent and two holly sprigs stems crossed in saltire vert.

Robert Blakhelm. Name.

Thurlef of Sogn. Name and device. Argent, a willow tree vert and on a chief wavy azure three swans naiant argent.

Thurlef is a possible East Scandinavian or Anglo-Scandinavian variant of the Old West Norse feminine name Thorleif; Sogn is the Old Norse name of a region in Norway. Thorleif í Sogni, or Thorleif ór Sogni if she no longer lives there, would appear to be standard Old Norse forms of the name, though Old Norse use of locative prepositions isn't entirely predictable.

RETURNS

THE FOLLOWING HAVE BEEN RETURNED FOR FURTHER WORK:

AN TIR

Catelin MacBain. Device. Argent, a bend sinister gules surmounted by a horse passant sable.

Conflict with Christjenn Rasmussen of Samsø, Argent, a bend sinister gules overall a leopard passant guardant sable marked argent. While there is clearly a CD for the difference in type of the overall charge, a comparison of the emblazons confirmed the high visual similarity of the two pieces of armory.

Cynric Goodwine. Badge. [Fieldless] A bunch of grapes argent.

Conflict with Thomas Lyon of Braemar, Per bend sinister vert and sable, a bunch of grapes argent. There is only the fieldless CD.

Giuliana Audaci. Device. Pily bendy wavy sable and argent.

Visual conflict with Conrad Hebenstorm, Azure, issuant from sinister base four piles wavy in point argent. While there is clearly a CD for the tincture change from azure to sable, the overall orientation of the argent "piles" in both leads to a very strong visual similarity. While we believe it would pass Stealth Herald's "Big Lug" test The "Big Lug" test, in its simplest form, is: Would a fighter with only rudimentary knowledge of heraldry know which of the bearers of the two shields being compared he "killed" on the field. on the basis of the tincture change, the two really are too close visually.

Natalie the Lamp Lighter. Name and device. Azure, on a pale bretessed between two lit candles Or a lit candle gules.

No evidence was presented that lamp-lighting was a period occupation. We shouldn't be surprised to find that it was, but given the doubts expressed by several commenters, we need some actual evidence that the byname is reasonable. The closest that we can come are some period occupational terms for lantern-bearers or candle-bearers, e.g., Latin lanternarius and the derived French surname Lanternier. (The situation is analogous to the first registration of a previously-unused charge.)

The name on the LoI was changed at kingdom from Natale Domini the Lamp Lighter, with the intended meaning `Christmas Day Lamp Lighter'. She might consider Latin Natalia Domini `Natalia [daughter of] Dominus'; both Latin names are attested from late Roman times. If the idea of Christmas is particularly important to her, she might consider something like Noel Cristemasse, which would be an excellent 13th century English name.

The device has a visual conflict with Eileen Rahel do Pico, Azure, on a pale bretessed Or between two candles argent enflamed a recorder proper. There is a CD for the tincture of the secondary candles, but it was the consensus of those attending the Laurel meeting who compared the two emblazons that the recorder proper and candle gules looked too much alike to grant the necessary second. The tincture change (from brown to red) was much more prominent than the type change.

Tjorkill Kanne. Device. Per saltire argent and sable, a griffin displayed counterchanged ducally crowned gules.

The posture of the monster, with the coronet helping to "hide" the griffin head's ears and making the outline of the head much more complex, only serves to reduce its identifiability as a griffin and not a winged lion. Indeed, many commenters, and those attending the Laurel meeting who saw the large emblazon, believed upon that it was a winged lion rather than a griffin until hearing the blazon. The counterchanging of the monster over the field further confuses the eye. (Indeed, some felt that it was in and of itself sufficiently confusing to warrant return on this ground alone.) As a consequence of the visual complexity and difficulty in adequately identifying the charge, the device falls afoul of RfS VII.7.a., the Identification Requirement.

A second question noted by some of the commenters was the propriety of the posture (displayed) for quadrupeds. Indeed, there have been some quadrupeds recently which have been reblazoned as sejant erect affronty, as displayed is considered to be a bird posture. An added difficulty is that the monster here does not really appear to be displayed, but rather salient affronty, wings displayed. Such a posture is not heraldic, and acts to further reduce the identifiability of the charge.

For all of these reasons, then, this must be returned for redesign.

ATENVELDT

Alyssa Rose MacGregor. Badge. Purpure, on a pile embattled argent a rose purpure barbed and seeded proper.

Conflict with William de Lacy of Sherborne, Purpure, on a pile raguly argent, a gauntlet aversant gules. There is a CD for the multiple changes to the tertiaries, but nothing for the difference between embattled and raguly.

Caesaria Almy. Household badge for Greenbriar Keep. Per pale potenty argent and vert, a rose branch vert budded and a tower argent.

We no longer register rosebuds. "Commentary was nearly as strong in favor of banning garden rosebuds from armory. Consequently, we will accept whatever garden rosebuds may be in LoIs issued before December 1994, but no further registrations of this charge will be made." (Da'ud ibn Auda, Cover Letter of November 29, 1994, p. 3.)

Lea of Crystal Mountain. Name.

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'. In addition, Crystal Mountain struck most commenters as a very unlikely period place-name. Mountain itself is rare in period place-names; and while one might find a large outcrop of crystal -- indeed, the OED quotes the phrase `A crystal clyffe' from c.1325 -- it seems very unlikely that one could find a whole mountain of the stuff.

The accompanying armory was registered under the holding name Crystyl of Dael Beorht.

Robert de Zwijger van Limburg. Device. Argent, a bend sinister cotised vert between a ship's compass rose and a grenade sable flammant proper.

The charge in chief is neither a compass rose nor a compass star; it is, rather, a mullet of four greater and four lesser and eight even lesser points (or as someone at the Laurel meeting put it, "four Daddy points, four Mama points, and eight little Baby points" ). At the very least, we need documentation for this charge; better would be documentation that it is a period charge considered different from a standard heraldic compass rose and from a compass star.

ATLANTIA

Bright Hills, Barony of. Badge for Award of the Silberberg. [Fieldless] On a mountain of three peaks couped argent a bow fesswise nocked with a rapier sable.

The rapier is almost entirely unidentifiable, especially as when crossed with a bow in this way, the eye wants to see an arrow. RfS VII.1.a. requires that heraldic elements "must be recognizable solely from their appearance." Such is not the case here until one takes the time to look closely and carefully at the tertiary charges. Armory needs to be more quickly and easily identifiable than that.

CAID

Dmitri Alexandrovich Liadov. Device. Per saltire purpure and vert, a simurgh close between three orchids Or.

As orchids do not have a standard or defined shape, but come in many different shapes, the emblazon cannot be adequately blazoned, nor would any blazon we could think of adequately reproduce the emblazon. As a consequence, this falls afoul of RfS VII.7.a. and b. (Identification Requirement and Reconstruction Requirement).

Finn Mathie. Device. Argent, within a mullet of eight points pierced gules, a dragon's head erased contourny azure.

Conflict with Alaric von Rotstern, Argent, on an eight-pointed mullet gules a griffin's head, a lion's head cabossed and a wyvern's head reversed all erased and conjoined at the nape Or. There is only one CD, for the multiple changes to the tertiary charges.

Additionally, as Palimpsest noted, "It is an oddity to have a charge within the piercing of a mullet.... I know of no period example of this arrangement, making the style questionable at best. Indeed, this is the equivalent of a charged sun eclipsed." The charged sun eclipsed has been banned, as the charge on the eclipsing is a quaternary charge, disallowed by RfS VIII.1.c.ii (see, e.g., LoAR of August 1993, p. 15). As this is effectively the same as a charged sun eclipsed, it falls under the same ban.

CALONTIR

Athanor Tor, Canton of. Name and device. Per chevron Or and vert, a flame within a laurel wreath Or.

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.

There were no problems with the device, but we are forced to return it as we cannot form holding names for groups.

Brice Jacob. Device. Gyronny gules and Or, three Maltese crosses counterchanged.

It was the consensus of those at the Laurel meeting looking at the emblazon that the counterchanging of the three crosses on the gyronny field significantly reduces their ready identifiability and thus should be considered "excessive", per RfS VIII.3. ("Elements must be used in a design so as to preserve their individual identifiability").

Ciarán Dubh Ó Tuathail. Device. Gyronny of twelve vert and argent, a yale rampant sable attired gules.

Conflict with Alejandra Merecedes de Rosanegra, A yale rampant sable platy. Given that the presence of plates on yales appear to be left to the artist's discretion and not necessarily blazoned, it seems that their presence, or disappearance, is not countable in terms of difference. Thus, there is only one CD here, for the presence of the field.

Morgan Wynne. Name.

The name conflicts with Morgan ap Wynne, registered 8/88.

DRACHENWALD

Aarnimetsä, Barony of. Order name for Katkenneen Kynän Ritarikunta.