ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1536 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1536 ************************************ 6 Apr 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for the late 13th century son of a Scottish knight. You also asked our opinion of the arms "Purple, a cat Or holding a harp argent and crowned with crowberries proper", a crest, and a motto. Here is what we have found. Unfortunately, neither your name nor your arms is appropriate for the period you have in mind. Before we can explain the details, though, we need to give a little background information. In the 13th century, several languages were spoken in the area that is Scotland today. The major ones were: * Norse, spoken in the far north and the western isles. * English, spoken mainly in the southeast. * Gaelic, spoken through much of the country. * Norman French, spoken by Norman settlers and their Scoto-Norman descendents, mostly in the south. The languages were very different and had different naming customs. There was some mixing of names from the different cultures, but most names were not adopted into all of the cultures. Our notions of the organization and structure of Scottish clans and septs are almost entirely modern. Clans did exist in Gaelic culture in your period, but they were quite different from today's clans. In particular, the idea that every surname is directly associated with a clan is modern. In fact, pre-1600 Gaels didn't use family names, clan names, or inherited surnames in Gaelic. In most cases, a Gaelic man of your period was identified only as his father's son. was the name of several early medieval Irish saints, but it did not remain common in later-period Ireland [1]. We did find indirect evidence that it was used by Scottish Gaels by the 12th century: a man recorded in a non-Gaelic document as , which we interpret as a rendering of the Gaelic name "Gille-Pa/draig son of Ciara/n" [2]. However, definitely wasn't a common name. The Gaels of your period generally avoided giving the names of important saints to their children. Instead, they usually honored saints by naming their children with compound first names like "servant of [Saint] Ciara/n". That name, considered a single name even though it's two words, was used by medieval Scottish Gaels. We have found one example from the 12th century [2]. The slash in the names represents an acute accent on the preceding letter. or and the similar but unrelated were common early medieval Gaelic names in Ireland, and there is evidence of both names in Scotland [1, 3]. However, middle names were not used in Gaelic or, indeed, in any of the languages of Scotland, in your period. In the 13th century, a man had only one given name. Of the two given names you've chosen, is more clearly appropriate for your period. The modern surname has two separate origins, corresponding to the two separate families of that name that existed in our period, one Scoto-Norman, the other Gaelic. However, the Clan Cameron did not exist in your period; it arose in the 15th century [4]. A Scoto-Norman family existed earlier, taking its name from a place called or in Fife. The earliest examples of that surname include in the first half of the 13th century, 1219, and 1296 [5]. We note that none of the early bearers of the name who appear in our sources have Gaelic first names, so we can't recommend as a particularly authentic name for your period. In Gaelic culture, the name evolved from the descriptive nickname "crooked or hook nose". That byname appears in late-period Scottish Gaelic documents, and was used as a Highland clan name by the end of our period. The similarity in pronunciation eventually caused this Gaelic name to be equated with the Lowland family name [5]. In your period, though, the name would have been used only as a personal description. For example, if you want to call yourself "Conall Hook-nose", then you could use the name , pronounced \KOHN-@l KAHM-rone\. The symbol \@\ represents the schwa sound of in . However, it was most common for a Gaelic man in our period to be known as his father's son. If Conall's father was Cormac mac Aodha, he would most often -- and, probably, most formally -- have been known as . For more discussion of the construction of Gaelic names in our period, we recommend the following articles, all available on the web: Scottish Names 101 http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/scotnames101.html A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/simplescotgaelicnames12.html Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/ The heraldic design you asked about, "Purpure, a cat Or holding a harp argent and crowned with crowberries proper", is not consistent with the style of heraldry used in medieval Scotland. Purple was very rarely used at all times in our period, and is completely absent from the medieval Scottish heraldry we've studied. The domestic cat is a very unusual charge in period heraldry, and having a beast holding an object is quite rare, too. Heraldic arms were in common use among Scoto-Norman families in your period, but not in Gaelic culture. If you choose a Gaelic persona, then it is not historically appropriate for you to use arms. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use arms: 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 If you choose a Scoto-Norman persona, then arms are entirely appropriate. If you use the surname , then you might want to use a variation of the historical arms of that family, "Gules, three bars Or" [4]. If you make a couple changes to the design, but keep the basic pattern, then you'll have arms that historically would have been understood to mean that you are a minor member of that family. For example, you might consider something like "Azure, three bars and in canton a mullet Or" or "Gules, three bars engrailed and in chief three fleurs-de-lys Or". In these designs, we chose the mullet and fleurs-de-lys because they are common charges in early Scottish arms. You could replace them with any of several other common charges: roses, cinquefoils, crosses croslet fitchy, crescents, mascles, or escutcheons [6]. As far as we can tell, you should be able to register any of these variants of these two designs in the SCA. We notice that you've incorporated much of the symbology of the modern Clan Cameron into your armory: The crowberry is the modern clan's badge, your crest "A group of arrows very tied with a ribbon gules" is a variant of the modern clan crest, and your motto "Aonaibh ri cheile" is the modern Gaelic motto of the clan. It is unlikely that any of these clan symbols existed in your period. Crests, in particular, didn't come into widespread use for another century or so. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Teceangl Bach, Jehan fitz Gilbert, Zenobia Naphtali, Walraven van Nijmegen, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 6 Apr 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990), s.nn. Ciara/n, Conall, Congal. [2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Chiaran, MacKerron, MacIlheran. [3] Black, s.nn. Connal, MacConnal. [4] Moncreiffe of that Ilk, Iain, _The Highland Clans_, revised edition (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1982), p.48. [5] Black, s.n. Cameron. [6] Schweitzer and Hunter of Montlaw, "Charge Use in Late Medieval Scots Heraldry", forthcoming in _The Double Tressure_.