ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2001 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2001 ************************************ 3 Apr 2000 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a woman from 15th or early 16th century Man, and whether she might have used a shield divided diagonally green and white with a green dragon rampant on the white section and a white harp on the green section. Here is what we have found. We've found both parts of your name recorded in Manx records in your period, so your name is a perfect fit for your culture [1]. Your given name was pronounced \ay-LAY-n@\. Your surname is a Manx surname that has a number of origins. The word is the Manx form of the Gaelic word "daughter", which was used in women's names in the same way that "son" was used in men's names. The Gaelic name that underlies is most likely to be "daughter of Dubha/n". (The slash in the name represents an acute accent on the preceding letter.) Our best guess at its pronounciation is \IN-ee GHWAYN\ or \IN-ee KHWAYN\ [4, 5]. \KH\ represents the rasping sound in the Scottish word and German . \GH\ represents the voiced version of \KH\. We aren't sure how surnames like this one were used in your period, which appears to have been a time of transition in the use of surnames. The name might have been literal, i.e. identifying your father as a man whose given name is , or it might have been a feminine form of an inherited surname, i.e. identifying your father as a man whose _surname_ is [1]. Unfortunately, your design for your arms isn't as appropriate for your period. All the elements of your design were uncommon or rare in period British arms, so the combination is strikingly unlikely. The basic design, a field divided per bend with different charges in the two halves, is very, very rare in period heraldry. Green was an uncommon color in period arms. Dragons were quite rare: The four-legged winged dragon does not appear until quite late in period. The wyvern, a two-legged winged dragon, showed up by 1312, but was also a rare charge [2]. Musical instruments, including harps, were also uncommon. We wonder if you are using the dragon and harp to say "I'm from someplace between Wales and Ireland". If so, we strongly recommend you consider other approaches to designing your arms: This just isn't the way arms were designed in our period. The use of national symbols -- a harp or shamrock for Ireland, a dragon for Wales, etc. -- is very common in modern design but was foreign to period heraldry. An Irish or Welsh woman of your period was not more likely than anyone else to use a harp or dragon in her arms. In fact, the harp wasn't a symbol of Ireland in our period: The modern arms of Ireland, "Azure a harp Or", were created by James VI & I, king of Ireland, Scotland, and England from 1603 [3]. If you'd like to re-design your arms to better re-creation the heraldic style of your period, these books are good starting points: They contain many examples of heraldry from medieval and renaissance England. Thomas Woodcock, Somerset Herald, and John Martin Robinson, Fitzalan Pursuivant Extraordinary, _The Oxford Guide to Heraldry_ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). Especially plates 10 and 13. Joseph Foster, _The Dictionary of Heraldry_ (New York: Arch Cape Press, 1989). 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 Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Juliana de Luna, Zenobia Naphtal, Amant le Marinier, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Talan Gwynek, Isfael ap Briafael, Effrick neyn Kenneoch, and Rouland Carre. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 3 Apr 2000 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "Manx Names in the Early 16th Century" (WWW: S. Krossa, 1998). http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/manxnames/jonesmanx16.html [2] Dennys, Rodney, _The Heraldic Imagination_ (New York: Clarkson and Potter Inc., 1975), p.119. [3] Woodward, John and George Burnett, _A Treatise on Heraldry British and Foreign_ (Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle, 1969)., p.384 [4] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), s.n. O/ Dubha/in. [5] Quilliam, Leslie, _Surnames of the Manks_ (Peel, Isle of Man: Cashtal Books, 1989), pp.13, 80.