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Greetings,
You wrote to us inquiring whether Caoimhion the Fletcher could be documented as a 14th or 15th century Scottish name, and also inquiring about the arms: "two arrows behind a yr-Rune (R) (both in sable) on an or background.". Here is the information we found about these names and your arms.
>From the 14th century, Scotland was increasingly mainly divided into two different cultures, Highland and Lowland, which spoke two unrelated languages, and thus had two different naming traditions. The Highlands included the Western Isles, the geographic highlands mainly to the north and/or west of a "Highland line" running very roughly northeast from Glasgow to Perth to Aberdeen then heading northwest to Inverness, and parts of the geographic highlands in southwest Scotland. Lowland culture was nearly everywhere else, with the notable exception of the Northern Isles, and was especially strong at the Scottish royal court and in the burghs (towns). Most Highlanders, or Gaels, spoke Gaelic, a language which was also spoken in Ireland, while most Lowlanders spoke Scots, a language closely related to English. Scottish names in this period were normally either Gaelic or Scots language names, to match the culture of the individual, but not a mixture of both.
In Ó Corráin & Maguire's book on Irish names [1][2], we found "Ca/ema/n" as the early period form of modern Irish "Caomhán". The late period form was also "Caomhán", which might have been pronounced in Scotland roughly /k#v-aahn/ (emphasis on the first syllable), where /#/ represents a vowel sound not found in English that is made by saying an /oó sound (as in English "moo") while smiling, instead of with rounded lips as in English. English speakers often replace the /#/ sound in "Caomhán" with either a /oó sound or an /eé sound.
We also found, in the same book, "Cáemgen", which is an early period form of modern Irish "Caoimhín". The late period form was "Caoimhghin", which might have been pronounced in Scotland roughly /k#iv-yeeN'/ (emphasis on the first syllable), where /#í represents a diphthong of the /#/ sound closely followed by a short /í sound, like the 'ee' in English "meek", only of shorter duration. English speakers often replace the /#í diphthong with a sound like the English word "eye", or sometimes with a simple /eé sound. The /N'/ represents a a sound similar to the 'ny' in English "canyon" or the 'ñ' in Spanish "piñata".
We did not found the spelling "Caoimhion".
However, we have not found any examples of either of these names actually being used in Gaelic Scotland, either as personal names or as part of patronymic bynames. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Irish and Scottish Gaelic name bases were somewhat different, although there was a certain amount of overlap. It can be speculated that an Irish Gaelic name might have been used in Gaelic Scotland, especially in the areas closer to Ireland or that had more contact with Ireland. But we cannot say for certain that Caoimhghin or Caomhán were actually used by any late period Scottish Gaels.
Because Caoimhghin and Caomhán are Gaelic personal names, and because Gaels did not normally have non-Gaelic bynames, it is highly unlikely that someone named Caoimhghin or Caomhán would have "the Fletcher" as a byname.
But in Black's _Surnames of Scotland_ [3], we did find very late 15th century and 16th century examples of Gaelic bynames that translate into English as "son of (the) fletcher". It appears that the late 15th century [4] Scots word "fledgear" (fletcher) was borrowed by Gaelic as "fleisdear", leading to the patronymic bynames "mac fleisdeir", "mac fhleisdeir", or "mac an fhleisdeir" (modern Scottish Gaelic spelling). Black gives the following examples (from Scots language sources, and so using Scots, not Gaelic, spelling):
We did not find any period examples of a Gaelic byname that indicated the individual himself was a fletcher. However, it could be reasonable to speculate, based on the patronymic examples, that a late 15th or 16th century Gael might have had the byname "Fleisdear" (modern Scottish Gaelic spelling). Note that while in a patronymic, the definite article "an" ("the" in English) may be used with "Fleisdear", "son of _the_ Fletcher", in a Gaelic occupational byname "an" ("the") is not used. So it would be "Caomhán Fleisdear", literally "Kevan Fletcher", not "Kevan the Fletcher".
If you have not already done so, you may find it helpful to read the article "Scottish Names 101", which can be found, along with other resources and articles about Scottish names, at the Medieval Scotland website: http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/medieval_scotland.html If you do not have access to the Web, we can arrange to e-mail you a copy of this article.
Your arms design is a good start, but we are afraid that it is not really compatible with the style of armory used in late period Scotland. Runes were no longer used by the 14th or 15th century, and we know of of no evidence that they were ever included in heraldic arms. The crossed arrows motif is extremely common in Society armory, but it is quite atypical of medieval British arms.
We suggest that before you continue considering specific designs for your arms, you take the opportunity to look at a large collection of arms from your period to get an idea of the kinds of designs that they used. A good source for your period is Joseph Foster, "The Dictionary of Heraldry", which is owned by many Society heralds and can be found in many libraries and bookstores. It is a catalogue of actual medieval arms, with color illustrations of several thousand of them. Foster took his material from English rolls of arms, but in general there was no a substantial difference between English and Scottish heraldic design in your period.
Arval d'Espas Nord, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and myself researched this letter.
We hope this has been helpful. If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.
In service,
Effric Neyn Kenyeoch Vc Ralte
Academy of S. Gabriel
[1] O/ Corráin, Donnchadh, and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_, 2nd edn. (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990) s.v. "Cáemgen" and "Ca/ema/n"
[2] "/" or "\" indicate that the preceding vowel is accented
[3] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland_ (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 1993) s.v. "MacLeister".
[4] Robinson, Mairi, ed., _The Concise Scots Dictionary_ (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1987) s.v. "flegear, &c."