[MR] Re: [brnsacstone] Irish names

[EoganOg at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/13/02 1:10:36 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
kisamul at yahoo.com writes:


> > ... It has DATES. ...
> 
> Please look at the original post again. As I mentioned before, the site
> doesn't have dates and should be followed up with a sturdy
> 

But if I can add to what Alanna has already said here, the heralds will tell 
you that it is better to start with a source that at least has dated 
material.  Why?  Because very often when people come to heralds for help 
documenting a name, it is not with this question:  "I'd like a 10th century 
Irish name, can you help me research one?"  Or even this question:  "I'd like 
an Irish name, don't care what time frame as long as it's period, and I want 
it to begin with 'R'."  Either of those is fine.

What we most often get is this:  "I'd like you to help me document the name 
Liam MacWallace."  When we ask their source for the name, they tell us it 
came from a list of Irish and Scottish names, or they read it in a novel, or 
something similar.  When we tell them that the name that they fell in love 
with, that they've been using for a year and a half, and everyone knows them 
by, is not period and not registerable . . . well, the best folks get 
dissapointed and the worse get angry.

Which is why most heralds you talk to will emphatically reccomend that any 
source you use, even (and especially) begining sources, at least have dates.  
The research may not be good, the dates may have some errors, and you may 
have to do further research before you can document it.  But at least it will 
prevent you from falling in love with a name that no one used before a 19th 
century novel.

It's even worse when the dissapointed client tells us that the book or web 
page they used was reccomended to them by someone else in the SCA.

I was going to reccomend a good site that had information on Irish, Scottish, 
and Manx names, but the URL doesn't seem to be working.  Does anyone know 
where this page went?
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/qceltic.shtml

Aye,
Eogan Og
Sacred Stone Persuivant
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