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Æthelmearc Internal Letter of Intent Æ99
  October 1, 2006


Commentary on these items will be due on: November 5, 2006

Commentary may be posted to the list-serve at: aethel-heralds@lists.andrew.cmu.edu
Commentary may be sent privately to: garnet [AT] aeheralds [DOT] net and cornelian [AT] aeheralds [DOT] net

It is the intent of the Æthelmearc College of Heralds that the following items be considered for registration. Unless noted otherwise,submitters will accept any changes and allow holding names.

1.  Ceara Cháomhanach – New Name, New Device (kingdom resub)

Argent, a rose purpure barbed vert seeded Or, in chief three crosses flory azure.

The name is intended to be feminine. The submitter will accept all changes and cares most about the language and culture of 13th century Irish Gaelic. The submitter is not requesting authenticity.

Her previous name submission of <Kiara Kavanagh> was pended at kingdom on LoR AE95 of June 22, and returned at kingdom on LoR AE96 July 20. The reason for the return was the lack of adequate documentation for the given name, and the disallowance of changes necessary to make the name registerable. An earlier name submission of <Shea Rose O'Donnell> was returned at kingdom on LoR Æ88 October 25, 2005 for lack of adequate documentation, and the disallowance of changes necessary to make the name registerable. Its accompanying device, Purpure a rose argent with leaves vert, was also returned at that time for multiple conflicts.

Ceara - OCM, p. 50, s.n. Cera, give <Cera> as the Old/Middle Irish header form and <Ceara> as the Modern header form. OCM give the possible meaning as "red, bright red" and state that "Cera was one of the wives of Nemed, legendary invader of Ireland, who, according to medieval scholars, gave her name to Mag Cera (Carra), Co Mayo. There were also three virgin saints of the name whose feast-days fell on 5 February, 8 February and 9 September."

Cháomhanach - Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Descriptive Bynames: Cáomhanach" at http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/DescriptiveBynames/Caomhanach.shtml gives <Cáomhanach> as the Early Modern Irish Gaelic (c1200-c1700) nominative form. We have added the required lenition.

Heralds of record: Alheydis von Körckhingen (name) and Khodoska Mordasova (device) 


2.  Desiderata Drake – New Device (kingdom resub)

Azure, a goose and on a chief wavy argent two ducks naiant azure.

Her name appears on Æthelmearc Letter of Intent AE97 dated September 21, 2006. Her previous device submission of Per chevron azure and vert, two ducks naiant argent and a goose close Or was returned at kingdom on Letter of Report AE97 dated September 21, 2006. The reason for the return was that the design violated RfS VIII.3 by the “sword and dagger” rule.

Herald of record: Alheydis von Körckhingen


3.  Eithne ingen Muirgen – New Name, New Device

Papellonny vert and argent, a red vixen proper sejant guardant charged on its forehead with a crescent argent.

The name is intended to be feminine. The submitter will accept all changes and cares most about the meaning “Enya, daughter of Muirgen.” The submitter is not requesting authenticity.

Eithne – OCM, p. 84, header form. The entry states that <Eithne> “is one of the most popular of all early female names” and lists numerous legendary, historical and ecclesiastical figures who bore the name, including one Eithne, wife of Bran, king of Leinster, who died in 795. Another is the wife of Congalach mac Máele Mithig (died 953).

ingen – early form of the Gaelic for “daughter”

Muirgen – OCM, p. 141, header form (pre-1200). OCM states, “This early name is borne by St Muirgen, abbot of Killeshin, whose feast-day is 27 January.”

The submission form states, “This masc. St.’s name needs to be put into the genetive form but [we] are unable to find it in Woulfe. It is lenited but without a change in spelling (per Effrick neyn Kenyeoch’s article).”

Herald of record: Pennsic/Thomas Brownwell


4.  Emilia Benitez – Change of Name from Emilia O'Madigan

The name is intended to be feminine. The submitter will accept minor changes only and does not indicate a preference for meaning, sound, spelling, language or culture. The submitter is not requesting authenticity.

The submitter wishes her new name to reflect her marriage to her husband, Iago Benitez (name registered March 1994 via the East).

Her current name was registered in June 2001 via Æthelmearc. If the requested change is approved, her old name is to be retained as an alternate name.

Emilia – no documentation was provided by the submitter. However, Æthelmearc XloI AE46 dated January 10, 2001 gave the following:

The submitter originally documented it from The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare, one of the characters is "Emilia, wife to lago" (pce). Withycombe, pg. 103, (s.n. Emily, Emilia) cites "Boccaccio' s use of Emilia for the heroine of his Teseide helped to bring the name into use in the later Middle Ages, and Chaucer in his Knight's Tale anglicized it as Emelye."

Benitez – The submitter provides a photocopy of Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges, A Dictionary of Surnames, p. 45, s.n. Bennett, which lists Benítez as a Spanish patronym.

In addition, we find that Elsbeth Anne Roth, “16th Century Spanish Names: Masculine Given Names Alphabetically” [http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/spanish/male-given-alpha.html] gives four occurance of the given name <Benito> fom 1560-1574. The articles main page [http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/spanish/index.html] under Name Structure, states:

Patronymic: These are names originally derived from the given name of one’s father. For example, if, in the 10th century, Diego’s father was Rodrigo, then Diego would be called Diego Rodriguez, where Rodriguez is the patronymic. The form was the same for women: Diego’s sister Maria could be called Maria Rodriguez.

The combination of English and Spanish was ruled to be one step from period practice [Andrew Quintero, 09/99]

Herald of record: (submitter)


5.  Rhydderich Hael, Barony of the – New Order Name: Order of the Dragons Combattant, New Order Badge

Per pale vert and sable, two dragons combatant Or.

No documentation was provided for the order name. However, we find, among the orders listed in the Project Ordensnamen, by Meradudd Cethin at [http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/order/], the following:

Defeated Dragon  - 1418, Hungary (adjective + creature)

Dragon Overthrown – 1418, Hungary / AKA Defeated Dragon (creature + adjective)

Herald of record: Eleanore Godwin


6.  Robert l’Etourdi – New Name, New Device

Vert, six bezants one, two and three and a bordure Or.

No gender is indicated for name. The submitter will accept minor changes only and cares most about the meaning “Robert the forgetful.” The submitter indicates an interest in, but is not requesting authenticity for, 15th century French.

The consulting herald, lacking French name resources, asks for the College’s assistance in documenting the name. We find:

Robert – Aryanhwy merch Catmael’s “French Names from Paris, 1421, 1423, & 1438” counts 23 occurrences of the name, and lists it as the 12th most popular name in the data set.

L’Etourdi – Larousse’s Dictionnaire Poche, p. 137, s.n. étourdi, gives the English translation of the modern French word as “scatterbrained”.

Googling, we found the website “Généalogie en ligne d'Océane Bonningue” [URL: http://webonningue.free.fr/genealogie/acc.html] which lists on the sub-page at [http://webonningue.free.fr/genealogie/n3.htm#1046] one < Andrieu L'Etourdi DE BERNIEULLES> born c. 1370.

Herald of record: Eleanore Godwin


7.  Snæbj{o,}rn Hákonarson– New Device

Per pale wavy Or and gules, a wolf and bear combattant counterchanged.

His name was registered in January 2005 via Æthelmearc.

Herald of record: Ice Dragon / Alheydis von Körckhingen


8.  Tristan Gueguen de Rohan – New Name, New Device

Gules, a stag springing and in chief three holy leaves bendwise argent all within a bordure ermine.

The name is intended to be masculine. The submitter will accept all changes and cares most about the language and culture of France / Brittany of 1200-1500. The submitter is not requesting authenticity.

Tristan – Dauzat, Dictionnaire des Noms de Famille et Prénoms de France, p. 578, s.n. Tristan, states:

Tristan, parfois –ant, anc. n. de bapt. mis à la mode par les romans Bretons (fréquent fin XIIIe s., Paris, Rôles de la taille), don’t le premier, sur Tristan, fut l’oevre de Beroul (vers 1150). Le n. gallois était d’abord Dristan (puis Tristan), anc. n. de druide picte (Drustan).

[Tristan, sometimes –ant, baptismal name became fashionable through the Breton romances (frequent at the end of the 13th century, Paris, Rôles de la taille), of which the first, about Tristan, was the work of Beroul (around 1150). The Welsh name was at first Dristan (then Tristan), ancient name of the Druidic[?] Picts[?] (Drustan).] - Alheydis

Withycombe (3rd ed.), p. 283, s.n. Tristram, states:

Tristram (m.): Celtic Drystan from Drest or Drust ‘tumult’, ‘din’. The form Tristan was influenced by French triste ‘sad’, and the Tristan romances give this as the derivation of the name. Tristan is found as a surname in France as early as the end of the 12th C. The Christian name occurs in England from 1189 in the form Tristram, which was the usual one in England, though it was exceptional in France.

Gueguen - Dauzat, Dictionnaire des Noms de Famille et Prénoms de France, p. 311, s.n. Guéguen, states:

Guéguen+, var. Guéguin, Guéguan+, n. de fam. Breton assez répandu, anc. n. de saint Breton (Uuincon, IXe s.: guen, blanc; con, haut)

[Guéguen+, var. Guéguin, Guéguan+, fairly widespread Breton family name, ancient name of a Breton Saint (Uuincon, 9th century: guen, white; con high)] – Alheydis

The article “Etymologie et Histoire de Locmalo” [Etymology and History of Locmalo] at infoBretagne [www.infobretagne.com/locmalo.htm] states in part:

A la “montre” (reunion de tous les homes d’armes) de Vannes du 4 septembre 1481, on comptabilise la presence de 4 nobles de Locmalo.

   - les héritiers d’Ollivier GUEGUEN, en la personne d’Henry Gueguen (60 livres de revenu…

[At the mustering of Vannes of September 4th 1481, there were present four nobles of Locmalo.

   - the hiers of Ollivier GUEGUEN, in the person of Henry Gueguen (60 pounds income)…] - Alheydis

The article “Evêché de Nantes” [Diocese of Nantes] at infoBretagne [www.infobretagne.com/eveche_de_nantes.htm] gives a numbered listing of the bishops of Nantes, Brittany, which includes no. 82, <Guillaume Gueguen>, bishop from 1500-1506.

Although the spellings in Dauzat include an acute accent over the first <e>, Colm Dubh has informed us via the SCA heralds list-serve that, “Although the accent aigu appeared in the 17th century, it was not regularized until the 18th century. For authenticity's sake I would omit the accent aigu.”

Rohan – Dauzat, Dictionnaire des Noms de Famille et Prénoms de France, p. 525, s.n. Rohan, states that this is a variant of <Roan>, the name of a locality in Morbihan, Deux-Sèvres, and of an ancient ducal fiefdom (Morbihan)

Herald of record: Fenris McGill / Alheydis von Körckhingen


9.  Uesugi Kutarou Ietoyo – New Name, New Device

Vert, three dragonflies argent.

The name is intended to be masculine. The submitter will accept all changes and cares most about the Japanese language and culture. The submitter is not requesting authenticity.

Uesugi – Solveig Throndardottir, Name Construction in Mediaeval Japan, p. 328, lists <Uesugi> as a historic surname dated to 1332.

Kutarou – Solveig Throndardottir, Name Construction in Mediaeval Japan, p. 371, lists <Kutarou> as a historical masculine yobina dated to 1568.

Ietoyo – Solveig Throndardottir, Name Construction in Mediaeval Japan, p. 335 lists <Ietoyo> as a historical masculine nanori dated to 1572.

Solveig Throndardottir, Name Construction in Mediaeval Japan, p. 4 states:

A masculine Japanese name can consist simply of a family name followed by a yobina and ending with a nanori.

Herald of record: Ice Dragon / Alheydis von Körckhingen


This concludes the Æthelmearc Internal Letter of Intent for October 1, 2006

Standard Bibliography of Sources