ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1124 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1124 ************************************ 27 Aug 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings, Here's the information we found on "Tharain the Bear," which you wanted to used as a Gaelic name from between 850 and 1200. We found , which is a Gaelic form of the name of a Pictish king who (based on the rather sketchy evidence) probably lived in the 6th or 7th century. is not actually a Gaelic name; it's a Pictish name which was written down by Gaelic-speaking people. We're not sure how late it would have been used, but it is probably more appropriate for a very early-period persona, perhaps between 500 and 800. It is definitely appropriate for a Pict, and possibly also for a Gaelic-speaking person from that period. The spellings and appear to be possessive forms of the name [1]. The difference between and is much like the difference between and . We don't know anything about how Picts identified themselves, since all the records of the Picts we have are in Gaelic or Latin. We do know that Gaelic-speaking people rarely used animal nicknames, and we didn't find any example of Gaelic-speaking people called . Gaels and Picts were almost always identified as the sons of their fathers. Thus the best way to choose a second name would be to find a Pictish or Gaelic name for your father, and call yourself . For a list of Pictish names (and a lot more information), you can check out reference [1], an article on the web about Pictish names. One choice you might want to consider is , a Gaelic name that is also the Gaelic word for . --where is the possessive form of --would be a reasonable name for your period. Heraldry was not used by Gaels in your period. It was first used in England and France in the mid 1100's. It spread to Scotland by 1170, but it was used only by Scots speakers, not Gaels. Thus, your persona would not have used heraldry. However, many SCA members whose personas would not have used heraldry use it within the SCA. We generally advise these people to use heraldry which follows the basic "core style" of heraldry developed in England and France. Bears are found in English and French heraldry. We don't have a single example of medieval Scottish arms with a bear in them, but there are a number of Scottish arms with bears' heads. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. In service, Alan Fairfax Academy of S. Gabriel - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "A Consideration of Pictish Names" (Y Camamseriad, Issue 4, Summer 1996, pp.29-56; WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/pictnames.html