ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1334 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1334 ************************************ From: "Rachel Cates " 10 Nov 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to use as an Irish given name and as a patronymic name during 1100-1200. You asked about if is not suitable. You also asked our help to blazon your arms. Here is the information we've found: Heraldic arms were invented in northwestern France in the late 12th century. Since your persona is earlier than that, you obviously would not have used armory. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use arms in the Society: Many Societyfolk use arms even though their personas would not have done so. Whether you use arms or not depends on how you think about authenticity and your persona. You can find a few thoughts on this issue in an article we've posted on the web: What Do I Use for Arms if my Persona Wouldn't Have Used Arms? http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/faq/nonheraldic.html Now let us address your proposed arms. The design you described could be blazoned "Argent, three barrulets wavy azure between three harps sable". This is a pretty good design, though we don't find period examples of the basic design; "three bars between three charges". If all three harps are placed in chief, it would be a more typical period design. We wonder if you chose the harps to say "I'm Irish". The harp is commonly used that way in modern times, but it didn't have that association in period. The harp was a symbol of Irish kingship, not a generic symbol of Irish nationalism. In fact, given the royal association of the charge, it is likely that the charge was less widely used in Ireland than elsewhere. You may want to consider replacing the harps with some other charge, or perhaps just dropping them. The resulting design, "Argent, three barrulets wavy azure" is wonderfully simple, elegant heraldry. As far as we can tell, any of these designs we've discussed could be registered with the SCA CoA. The name pronounced \ROAN-ahn\ was a relatively popular name in early Ireland. The slashes represent accents over the previous letters. This is a fine choice for an Irish given name. [1] is an incorrect spelling of which is a Gaelic form of that became common during the 18th century in honor of the Hanoverian kings. It may not be a period name at all, and almost certainly was not used in Ireland before the arrival of the Normans. [2] is a later-period spelling of the name or , which was relatively common in the early period and became extremely popular during the 10th and 11th centuries. If you want to use as your father's name, you could call yourself or [1]. and are genitive (possessive) forms of , just as is the possessive form of in English. In both of these spellings, this name is pronounced \ROAN-ahn mahk TIEG\, with the last word pronounced just like the word plus a . You wondered if were a short form of . It isn't; they are unrelated names. was also used in your period. [1] We hope that this letter has been useful to you. Please do not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Additional research and commentary on this letter was provided by Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Margaret Makafee, Caelin of Andred, Rouland Carre, Ceatt o Gulcleth, Walraven van Nijmegen, Evan da Collaureo, Zenobia Naphtali, Arval d'Espas Nord, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Eithni ingen Cormacc References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire,_Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [2] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation).