[MR] Re: [brnsacstone] Irish names

[Lucinda Welenc]

Ceara ni Neill wrote:
> 
> --- Lucinda Welenc <lwelenc at cablespeed.com> wrote:
> > ...this site is not as good ...for ...choosing an SCA name.
> 
> For someone who has no idea what to look for, I thought it was a good
> place to start. And I would expect that most of those names can be
> documented, with the correct accent marks in place of course, with a
> little further research. Thus the mention of the O'Corrain book.
> Heraldry and name documentation are not my area of expertise, though.
> 
> Cool links, by the way!
> 
All right, here are some ways to tell if a website is useable as name
documentation:

1. It has DATES.  We need dated information.  If you say that you want a
10th century Ruritanian name, look in lists that have been compiled from
10th century Ruritanian sources.  You can't assume that just because you
found it in a modern Ruritanian baby name book, it must have been in use
back then, too.  Conversely, you can't assume that finding a name in a
10th century source means that the name was used all through period. 
How many men do you know named 'Ethelbald'?

2. It cites its sources.  "Names compiled from the household accounts of
Queen Vivola II of Ruritania (1345 - 1394)" is probably a GOOD source. 
"Names I found in a novel about Ruritania" is not.

3.  It gives you cues to indicate that the names have not been
modernized.  If the household accounts above have 56 instances of
'Katharine' or a similarly common name all spelled in different ways,
then you know that they have not.  If all 56 instances are spelled
identically, then you can suspect that they have been.

4.  You can be fairly certain that you know what it says, i.e. it's in
English, or running it through a computer translation gives you a good
idea.  It is a very sad thing when the Laurel office has to return a
name with the apologetic note "We're sorry, but 'Bykws' is not a name.
It is the Ruritanian word for 'because'."  (And yes, this has really
happened.)

OTOH, look at "Lady Pixie Moondrip's Guide to Craft Names" at
http://www.widdershins.org/vol3iss4/m9710.htm
for how NOT to create a name!

-- 
Alanna
**********
Saying of the day: He who lives by the sword dies by the clothyard
shaft. - Archer's motto