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Greetings,
Here's the information we found on "Duncan MacLean of Duart," which you'd like to use as an early (500-1000) Scottish name.
You asked whether this name would pass. We actually don't try to figure out whether a name will pass, but whether it's appropriate for your specific period. The SCA has very lenient rules for passing names, so it's possible to pass many names which aren't historically accurate. If having this name is more important to you than having a historical name, then you should talk to another group (such as the SCA heralds list at http://listserv.aol.com/archives/scahrlds.html) to find out whether your name will pass.
First, "Duncan," "MacLean," and "Duart" are all late period or modern Scots forms of names which were originally Gaelic. (Scots is a language closely related to English that in late period was spoken in the Scottish Lowlands and at court, while Gaelic was a language that was spoken in Ireland and parts of Scotland.) Since the ancestor of the Scots language, Old English, was not widely spoken in early Scotland, it is unlikely that your name would have appeared in an Anglicized form at that time. It would have been either in an original Gaelic form or, in a Latin document, in a Latinized form.
"Duncan" is the later Scots form of two names which became confused in later period. For your period, the correct for is either "Donnchad" or "Dunchad."
"MacLean" is the later Scots form of "mac Gillai E/oin" ("Gillai E/oin" is a fairly common man's name meaning "St. John's follower;" the "E/" represents an accented "E.")
"Duart" is the later Scots form of "Dhubhairt" (a place in Scotland).
So, the early period form of your name would be "Donnchad mac Gillai E/oin" or "Dunchad mac Gillai E/oin Dhubairt." This would be pronounced something like "DOON-khath mahk GILL-ay-AIN THOO-vahrt"
Although this is theoretically a possible early-period Gaelic name, it's very unlikely that an early-period person would have used it.
"Clan names" are, in general, a modern usage. '"Mac" means "son" and in period a name like "mac Domnaill" means "the son of a man named Domnall," not "a member of Clann Domnaill." In addition, the MacLean of Duart clan wasn't founded until the 13th century, so it's not possible that your persona could have belonged to it. The name "Dunchad mac Gillai E/oin Dubairt" means "Dunchad, son of a man named Gilla E/oin, who comes from Dubairt." In early period, this name would just describe who you were and where you came from--it wouldn't imply a connection with any clan. This kind of usage wouldn't be found in late period at all.
Because of this, and because it's rare to find people with three-part names in early-period Scotland, we recommend that you use "Dunchad mac Gillai E/oin," which is the early-period Gaelic equivalent of "Duncan MacLean." This is a historically accurate name for your period.
There are many different Scots spellings of "mac Gille Eoin." Here are the late-period forms we found: (2)
"Duncan" with one of these spellings would be a reasonable Scots form of this name after about 1400.
Although there are several possible historical names that you can construct, it's unlikely that any of them will be registered by the SCA College of Arms. "Duncan Maclean" is a major character in the Deryni series of books by Katherine Kurtz, and it is likely that the arms would return your name as a result. "Duncan Maclean of Duart" in modern (but not medieval) Scots carries the implication that you're the head of the Maclean clan, and because of this implication any version of "MacLean of Duart" will also get returned. However, you can use a name even if you can't register it, so you will have to decide whether to change your name, to something registerable, or to use it without registering it.
We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.
In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel