Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 173

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 173

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/173

This is one of the Academy's earliest reports. We are not confident that these early reports are accurate. Please use it with caution.

Greetings,

Here is what we found on the name "Annaliese Wildfang" as a German name from between 1200 and 1400. This letter includes some of the information that's been on the Rialto, so you'll have seen some of it before.

Two of our members have researched "Annaliese" in the past, and like you, they couldn't find any evidence that it was a period name. "Anna" and "Elizabeth" are both used as German names during your period, but that doesn't mean that "Anna Elizabeth" would be appropriate for your persona. Double given names (what we would call "middle names") weren't commonly used in Germany until the 1500's. The College of Arms doesn't take your persona into consideration, so you could register the name "Anna Elizabeth--" but it would not be historically accurate to do so.

You might think about using "Anna," which is a common German name for your period. Your name is the starting point for all the re-creation you might do. Just as we make an effort to have clothes and accessories that are "period," we can make an effort to make our name period. All the evidence we have says that "Annaliese" is an impossible name for someone from the 13th or 14th century, and there are many names which are documented to that period. We realize that it's rather inconvenient to change an SCA name, but it's not as difficult as it might seem--and in this case, you get the benefit of having a name which fits your persona.

"Wildfang" is a perfectly reasonable spelling of "Viltfang." In medieval German, w/v and t/d at the end of a syllable are pronounced the same and are interchangable. As you may already be aware, this would be pronounced "VILT-fahng."

Arval D'Espas Nord and Marten Broeker researched your name.

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