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Greetings,
Here's the information we found on your name and device.
Finding your last name was fairly straightforward. We have many examples of "Fraser" from your desired period, including (1)
Determining the proper use of "Seumas" is more complicated because it involves the relationship between Gaelic and Scots, two totally different languages which were both spoken in Scotland during the 13th century. As you may be aware, "Seumas" is the Gaelic form of the name "James," which is used in both English in Scots. In the 13th century, the only records of the name use the Latin "Jacobus." In the 14th century, we found the spellings "Iames" and "Iamys." (During this period, "I" and "J" were largely interchangable.) We think that the name was pronounced "yay-mes" or "zhay-mes." When Gaelic-speakers heard this name, they used the Gaelic spelling that most closely approximated the sound "zhay-mes," and came up with "Seumas." So, even though they're spelled differently, "Seumas" and "Iames" sound almost the same. (2)
Given that, we wanted to find out which form would be more appropriate for your persona. As it turns out, "James" was not a common name in Scotland during the 13th century. The first occurence of "James" we found (the Latin form "Jacobus") is from the early 1200's (3), and we found only people named "James," both connected to the Stewart family (which later produced seven Scottish kings named James). (4) Unfortunately we didn't find records which show the form of the name they used.
Because "James" was still an uncommon name even in Scots, it's unlikely that it was adopted into Gaelic during your period. Even if it were, a Scoto-Norman would almost certainly use the Scots spelling rather than the Gaelic one. Every example we found of a Scoto-Norman name (and Scoto-Norman records in general) are written using either Latin, Scoto-Norman French, or Scots, and we would expect "James" to follow this pattern. Thus, we'd recommend that you use the name "Iames Fraser" and write it with either the Scots spelling variants or Latin.
We also looked at your arms and the possibility of showing relation to the Fraser family. "Clans" are a feature of Gaelic Scots; the idea of a "clan Fraser" was not developed until well after your period. However, there are many branches of the Fraser family in Scotland. In the 13th century, the Fraser arms are recorded as "Sable, six cinquefoils argent." The field is said to have changed to Azure shortly thereafter, and in 1542 they're recorded as "Azure, six cinquefoils argent." Other sources show the use of 5 and 3 cinquefoils to show a connection to the Frasers. You might be able to use one of these designs, or a variation on them. Common ways to difference arms in Scotland include a bordure (often engrailed) and a bend overall. In addition, early Scotland often differenced armory using distinctive charges (such as the 'fraises' of the Frasers) by changing colors instead of adding charges. So you might be able to design arms using gold cinquefoils on azure that are still good early cadenced Fraser armory, and still keep with your desired color scheme.
In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel