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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You sent us a follow-up letter regarding your name. We've done some further research; here's what we've found.
Before I start, I would like to note that the Academy's purpose is to provide information on choosing and using historical names and arms. What you can register with the College of Arms -- like parts of your mundane name -- is another matter. When it is appropriate we will give advice on registration, but our focus is historical practice.
We are not sure that the name "Mór" was ever used in Scotland, but since it was very popular in late-medieval Ireland, it certainly may have spread to Scotland. "Móirín", pronounced \MORE-een\, is an Irish diminutive of that name [2]. We don't know that this name was used in Scotland either, but it's also possible. Some other late-period Scottish Gaelic feminine names are [3, 4]:
Beathag \BAY-ahk\
Ealusaid \EHL-uhs-ahtch\ (Gaelic borrowing of Elizabeth or Elisot)
Afraig \AHF-rick\ or \EHF-rick\
Caitrina \KAHT-ree-nah\ (Gaelic borrowing of Katherine)
Maol-Mhuire \MOOL VUR-eh\ ("servant of [Saint] Mary")
Sitheag \SHEE-ahk\
If you are interested in Scots feminine names, you can find a list in the article "Early 16th Century Scottish Town Women's Names", available on the web at <http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/acr_1501_womens_names.html>.
The history of the Logans that you found and their connection to the MacLennans is traditional history, reported in a number of books about Highland clans, but it seems to be historically suspect. The traditional history is given by Robert Bain:
Like the Livingstones, the Logans appear to consist of two distinct families, Lowland and Highland. ... Tradition relates that the Logans of the north, "Siol Ghillinnein" (MacLennans), are descended from the Logans of Drumderfit, in Easter Ross. In the 15th century a feud between the Logans and the Frasers ended in a sanguinary battle at North Kessock, in which Gilligorm, the chief of the Logans, was killed, and his wife carried off by the victors. The widow gave birth to a posthumous son of Gilligorm, who from his deformity was known as Crotair MacGilligorm. He was educated by the monks at Beauly and on reaching manhood took Holy Orders at Kilmor in Sleat and in Kilchrinin, Glenelg. Like many others of the Highland clergy at that period he did not remain celibate and his descendents came to be known as Siol Fhinnein or MacLennans. They were numerous in Kintail, and at the Battle of Auldearn in 1645... [5]
But other historians give a very different view of the historical reliability of tradition. Neil Grant describes the traditional history as "demonstrably unreliable", and occurring in the 12th century, which is "too early for 'Frasers' or 'Logans'". He also writes:
Although they are usually grouped together, there is probably no connection between the MacLennans of the Highlands and the Lowland Logans. [7]
Ian Grimble writes:
Although the names Logan and MacLennan often appear in clan books as though they were virtually interchangeable, there is no historical evidence whatever to connect them. ... It is a far cry from [Lowland Logans] to the legendary Gilligorm, leader of Lobans, Lobhans or Logans in Easter Ross, killed in a feud with the Frasers in no particular century. His widow gave birth to a deformed son, who was called <Crotair Mac Gilligorm> and who entered the Celtic church in which priests were permitted to marry. He was educated by the monks of Beauly Priory, founded the chruches of Kilmuir in Skye and Kilchrinin in Glenelg, and fathered a son whom he named Gille Fhinnein -- the Devotee of Saint Finnan. At this point light breaks apon the confusions of tradition, suggesting an origin for <Clann Mac Gill'innein> long before Frasers or Logans were to be seen in the Highlands. While the Lobans of Drumderfit in Easter Ross survived until the Jacobite rising of 1715 (when a wooden effigy of Gilligorm was destroyed with their house), the MacLennans of Wester Ross lived cheek by jowl with the MacRaes and became standard bearers to the Mackenzies of Seaforth. Roderick and his brother Donald MacLennan were killed defending the banner at the battle of Auldearn in 1645, during the Montrose wars. [1]
As you can see, the legendary connection between the Logans and the MacLennans probably has no historical basis.
If a Highland clan had a connection to a Lowland family, it is possible that the actual family of the clan chief might have used the Lowland surname, at least when dealing with Lowland culture. However, they were unlikely to do so in a Gaelic context, and simple members of the clan were even less likely to do so. In Gaelic culture, people identified themselves as their fathers' children.
The accounts I've quoted above tell us that the family did have a Gaelic name for themselves, "Siol Fhinnein" or "Siol Ghillinnein" (literally "the seed/family/clan of Gille-Fhinnein") and that their progenitors had typical Gaelic names: Crotair mac Gilligorm, Gille Fhinnein mac Crotair. Therefore, we are quite confident that members of the clan used typical Gaelic names, too. A woman of the 16th century Siol Ghillinnein would have been known by her given name and a patronymic based on her father's name or profession. A typical example is "Mór inghean Donnchaidh" (Mor, daughter of Donnchadh). A less common type of name, but one which involves the merchant profession, is "Mór inghean an Cheannaiche" (Mor, the merchant's daughter; see note [9] for new evidence supporting this name). In the latter name, the 'n' in "an" was silent.
Note that the clan name "Siol Ghillinnein" would _not_ have been used as part of any individual's name. Period Scottish Gaelic names did not specify clan membership.
You mentioned that your persona's parents' names are "Knute" and "Marjory". We found no Gaelic form of "Knute". Forms of the name are found in northern England, so it may well have been used among the Lowland Scots; but it does not seem to have penetrated the Highland namestock. "Marjory" was fairly common in late period Lowland naming [3, 8]. We don't know of an example of its use in Gaelic, but we would not be surprised to find a Gaelic borrowing of the name.
Your persona history is problematic. Viking raids on Scotland had stopped by the 13th century. Norwegian rule of the Western Isles ended in 1266. Except for the Danish rule of Orkney and Shetland, which continued into the 15th century, any identifiable Scandinavian presence in Scotland ended long before the 16th century when you want to set your persona. To keep that part of your persona story, you would have to set it several centuries earlier. If that is your priority, let us know and we'll make some suggestions.
I should note that while you placed your persona on the northern coast of Scotland, the Siol Ghillinnein lived in Wester Ross and Easter Ross, some distance to the south. Black Isle is well within the lands of the clan, lying just north of Inverness.
Since you asked about your arms in your first letter, I'd like to offer a few additional comments. Since you want your persona to be part of the Highland Siol Ghillinnein, it would be inappropriate for your arms to bear any relation to the Lowland Logan arms. The two families would certainly not have used the same arms.
In general, arms were not as widely used in the Highlands as in the Lowlands. Only landowners were likely to have used arms, and they used a very different style of armory than was found in the Lowlands, England, and the rest of western Europe. Today, much of the armory registered to heads of Highland Clans was designed after the 16th century. Only a few clan chiefs, MacLeod of Lewis for example, continue in to use the pre-17th century form.
Typical pre-17th century Highland armory has been called "totemic" in nature. It combined a number of different "totemic symbols" in one set of arms in order to show an individual's believed or actual descent or allegiance. The armory might be drawn in different ways at different times to use the symbols being stressed at the time. This practice does not occur elsewhere Scotland or in the rest of Europe where the coat of arms remained fixed in content. [6]
If you are interested in designing typical Highland armory, you should be prepared for some difficulty in the SCA registration process, since much of typical Highland armory is more complex than SCA rules generally allow. The SCA will allow you to register armory that violates its rules if you can show that the style is consistent for a particular place and time in period. We can help you with the documentation for style exception and discuss which types of "totems" would be appropriate to your persona. Unfortunately, we do not know as much about this topic as we might like, but we do have some information which would be of interest.
I 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 Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Talan Gwynek, Zenobia Naphtali, and Margaret Makafee.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] Ian Grimble, "Scottish Clans & Tartans" (London: Lomond Books, 1993), pp. 128-9.
[2] Donnchadh O'Corrain and Fidelma Maguire, Irish Names (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990).
[3] Talan Gwynek, "A List of Feminine Personal Names found in Scottish Records" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996).
[4] A photograph of the "1467 MS", a Gaelic genealogical manuscript, which is shelf-marked 72.1.1 in the Scottish National Library. Colm O'Boyle has kindly helped with our transcriptions from this manuscript.
[5] Robert Bain, "The Clans and Tartans of Scotland", 5th ed. (Glasgow & London: FontanáCollins, 1985)
[6] Pye, "Armory of the Western Highlands", Coat of Arms Vol. XI #81, January 1970 and Vol XI #82, April 1970.
[7] Neil Grant, "Scottish Clans and Tartans" (New York: Crescent Books, 1987).
[8] Sharon L. Krossa, Early 16th Century Scottish Town Women's Names (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996).
[9] In our previous letter, I wrote that we had not been able to document the use of the Gaelic word for "merchant" in personal names. Since then, I have found some supporting evidence. Black, Surnames of Scotland, cites several examples of the surname "Canycht", which he derives from Gaelic "ceannaiche" 'merchant'. In your period, he cites Ewen Canycht or Candych (1545), Molcallum Candyth in 1500, and Willian Candith in 1539. (The 'th' in the last two examples is probably a mis-reading of 'ch'.) The term also appears in patronymics: John Mac Chandyt, 1550; John Glas M'Candycht and Gillendris M'Incandycht, 1548. The last example is a rendering of "mac an Cheannaiche", which is essentially the masculine version of the form we recommended to you.
Correction, 18 Oct 2001, Arval: After a word ending in n, like inghean, the letter D does not lenite.
Correction, 23 Mar 2008, Aryanhwy: Removed "Móirne"; Ref. [2] s.n. Móirne doesn't give any evidence that this name was used during our period; it only says that the name was used in Omeath through the end of the 19th century. On re-consideration, we can't recommend it.