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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked for our opinion of "Eire Fial Anwen of Caerllion" as a 13th century English name.
We congratulate you on the energy you've brought to your work as a herald, and we'd like to help you. This name has quite a few problems, which we will discuss in detail. We'll also offer some alternatives that your client might appreciate. Please keep in mind that the Academy doesn't offer the same service as the College of Arms. We are interested first and foremost in whether a name is historically correct for the client's period, not whether it can be registered. We will often offer advice on how to avoid registration problems, but only as a secondary consideration. Our service is not intended for everyone in the Society; we cater to those who are interested in having authentic names and armory. In the final analysis, some of your clients may well decide that they aren't interested in having authentic names. That's part of the way the Society plays the turns down your advice and decides to use an inauthentic name.
That said, here's what we've found.
Your client started with reasonably good sources, but unfortunately she made several mistakes using them. So while some of the elements of her name are correct period names, they are not appropriate to her chosen culture and the combination is not historically possible.
"Gaelic Personal Names" is the title of the first edition of an excellent book which appeared more recently as "Irish Names" [1]. This book, used carefully, is a fine guide to period Irish names. Your client seems to have missed the prefatory note entitled "How to Use This Book". It explains that in each listing the original spellings of the name are given first, followed by a colon, followed by the modern spellings. "E/ire" (with a sharp accent on the first 'e') is specifically listed as a modern spelling of the earlier "E/riu". Despite many attempts by Society researchers, the names "E/ire" and "E/riu" have not been found in use as a personal name in period, but only as a place name amd as the name of a goddess.
"Fial" is a period spelling, but it is only documented as a name in legend and mythology. Some Irish legendary and mythological names were also used by real historical people, but as a general rule they were not given to Irish children in the Middle Ages. Without evidence that "Fial" was used by real people, we recommend avoiding it. It is always best to choose names that are actually documented in use by real people.
Heini Gruffudd's "Welsh Names for Children" is another book which can be useful when used carefully [2]. However, it lists many names which are not period. Mr. Gruffudd was not just interested in cataloguing traditional names; he also set out to encourage Welsh parents to give their children Welsh names. He enlarged his collection of names by including recent inventions and place names that he thought would make good names for children. As a result, a name listed in this book can only be trusted to be medieval if the author provides a clear citation of its use in period. "Anwen" is listed by Gruffudd without any documentation of its use as a personal name, in period or otherwise. There is no reason to believe that it was used as a name in period.
"Caerlleon" is the Welsh name for Chester and more commonly for Caerleon-on-Usk in Gwent. Gwent became part of Monmouthshire when the English shire system was imposed in Wales, mostly in the 16th century. Monmouthshire, in particular, did not exist until the 16th century. Caerleon is a town in Monmouthshire, not an alternate name for Monmouthshire. The name is recorded in a 12th century English document as "Cairlion" [3]. In an English context, the substitution of 'i' for 'e' in the second part of the name is reasonable; but in Welsh, it would be incorrect.
In addition to the problems with the individual name elements that I've discussed above, there are difficulties with the way the lady has combined them and the way she has matched them to her persona. She has combined two Irish given names, a Welsh given name, and an English place-name phrase. This combination is impossible at any time in our period. One person rarely bore names from different languages. Names were occasionally imported from one country to another, but they were almost always translated into the local language and used according to the local naming patterns. Without specific evidence that "Fial" was used in Welsh or English, for example, we would not recommend combining it with those languages.
Multiple given names (or "middle names") were not in use in any part of the British Isles until after our period, and were particularly unlikely in Welsh or Irish, where the normal pattern until quite late in our period was one given name and a patronymic.
Taken together, I'm afraid that this is a pretty negative critique of the name. Our guess, judging from your letter, is that the lady is trying to preserve the sound of her original name. We might be able to help her reach that goal.
"Arafel" is not a period name, as far as we can tell, but there is a name from your client's period which sounds quite similar: Arabel, which is recorded as Arable (1243), Orabella (1275), Orabilia (1221), Orabla (1243), and Orable (1243) [4].
Matching the surname "Anwen" is harder, but the lady might be satisfied with "Annwyl", which derives from a Welsh word meaning "dear" or "beloved". It is recorded in the lady's period [5].
Place names were used only rarely in 13th century Welsh names, but they were very common in English names of the same period. The most common way to use them was with the preposition "de", just as in French or Latin. Putting it all together, we get "Arabel Annwyl de Caerleon". This is a reasonable name for a 13th century Anglo-Welsh woman.
If your client would like to consider other options, we can suggest some good references. The books she has already used, "Gaelic Personal Names" and "Welsh Names for Children", are good resources as long as they are used carefully, keeping in mind that a name is period only if it is specifically dated in period. For more lists of period names and for advice on period-style name construction, you can look on the web. You can find guides to Welsh, Irish, and English name construction on the web, starting from http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/. You are welcome to print some of these articles for your client. You might want to start by printing the indices and offering to print the articles that interest her.
I hope this letter has been helpful. Tangwystyl ferch Morgant Glasfryn contributed to this letter.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] Donnchadh O'Corrain and Fidelma Maguire, Irish Names (Dublin: The
Lilliput Press, 1990).
[2] Heini Gruffudd, Welsh Names for Children. Also published as Welsh
Personal Names (Talynot, Ceredigion: Y Lolfa Cyf., 1980).
[3] Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names,
4th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991).
[4] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in 'A Dictionary of English
Surnames'" (SCA, KWHS Proceedings, 1994; republished by J. Mittleman, 1996: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/reaney/
[5] P. H. Reaney & R. M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1995).
[6] Tangwystyl ferch Morgant Glasfryn, "A Simple Guide to Constructing 13th
Century Welsh Names" (Academy of S. Gabriel, 1996: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/welsh13.html)