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Greetings,
You were asking about English place-name elements which had the connotation of "safety" or "security."
We can suggest
Arval D'Espas Nord, Margaret Makafee, Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte, and Lindorm Eriksson all contributed to this name.
We hope this has been helpful. Good luck on working these suggestions into your group's name; we'll be happy to continue working with you.
In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel
Greetings,
Here's the information we have on the names you suggested for your group. Even though you said that two of the names probably wouldn't be used, we've enclosed comments on all of them. We've also included comments on the Old English and Middle English forms of the names you mentioned.
"Wildhaven" and "Farhaven" are both reasonable placenames, but they don't have the meanings which you might expect.
"Wild" is derived from the Old English word "Wilde" meaning "wasteland, uncultivated land." We didn't find any examples of spelling variants using "y" for "i," but it is possible that they existed.
We didn't find any placenames which used "far" in the sense of "distant." The Old English word "feorr" doesn't appear in any placenames we found. There are places whose modern names begin with "Far" such as "Farlegh" and "Farlow," but "Far" in these names is derived from the Old English "fearn," meaning "fern."
"Haven" is derived from the Old English word "haefen," meaning "port." The connotation of "safe place" is a modern one. However, "haefan" is found as a placename in period.
The Old English forms of the names you've suggested would be "Wildehaefen" (with a later form "Wildhaven"), meaning "port near an uncultivated area," and "Fearnhaefen" (with a later form "Farhaven"), meaning "port with a lot of ferns." Neither of these sound like the meaning you're trying to get, but they're both plausible placenames.
"Aldshaw" is an excellent choice, appropriate in Middle English or Modern English (late period). Based on other names which were originally Old English and continued into Middle and modern English, the Old English could be "Ealdsceaga" (meaning "old woods") or "Alersceaga" (meaning "alder woods"). "Aldersceaga" would have most likely become "Aldershaw" or "Alershaw", but "Aldshaw" is also plausible.
"Reddefels" is an unlikely name. We found no examples of "fell" or "fels" as the second element in any English place-name. There are places called "Felkirk" and "Felbrigg." "Fell" in these names comes from the Old Norse "fjol " or plank, and these names mean "church made of boards" and "plank bridge", respectively.
In situations like this it's often helpful to start with a meaning, and work on a translation. If you can get a desired meaning from the "fantasy people," it might be possible to find a historical place name that would satisfy the fantasy people as well.
Our source for documentation was "The Origin of English Place Names" by P.H. Reaney. Arval D'Espas Nord, Rouland Carre, and Lindorm Eriksson all contributed to this letter.
We hope this has been helpful. If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.
In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel