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Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!
You asked for help in documenting the name <Walter Allen> as a late-14th century English name.
The purpose of the Academy is primarily to offer assistance to people who want to choose and use names and arms appropriate to the period cultures that they are re-creating. This includes providing relevant documentation, but the historical plausibility of the name comes first. Fortunately, with very minor tweaking <Walter Allen> is a very authentic name for your period.
The name <Walter> was introduced into England by the Normans and soon became one of the most popular masculine given names. For example, it is the tenth most common man's name in the 1379 Poll Tax returns from Howdenshire Hundred in the East Riding of Yorkshire. [3] It was usually written <Walter>, <Wauter>, or even <Water>, and it was often shortened to <Watte>. <Wauter> and <Water> clearly show the usual medieval pronunciation, which seems to have persisted through the 16th century. [2, 4]
The name <Alan> or <Alain> was also introduced into England by the Normans and soon became quite popular; in 12th century Lincolnshire records it is the eighth most common man's name. [2, 4] In the 1379 Yorkshire records mentioned earlier it is still the 13th most common man's name. Given this popularity, it is not surprising that the name occurs early as a patronymic byname (i.e., one naming the bearer's father), e.g., <Geoffrey Alein> 1234. The same byname occurs as <Alayn> in the 1379 Yorkshire data. [5] Both as a given name and as a byname it was usually spelled <Aleyn> or <Alayn> in the your period; <Allen> seems to be uncommon before the 16th century, though by 1601 it is the usual form of the surname. [1]
For a late-14th century persona, therefore, we recommend that you use any combination of <Walter>, <Wauter>, <Water>, or <Watte> with either <Aleyn> or <Alayn>, e.g., <Walter Aleyn>. Since period spelling was not rigidly fixed, it would actually be most authentic to use all of these forms from time to time, regardless of what version you register. The form <Walter Allen>, on the other hand, would be very characteristic of the later 16th century.
This letter is acceptable to the College of Arms as documentation for any of the suggested forms; just print it out in its entirety, complete with headers.
Arval Benicoeur also contributed to this letter. We hope that the information is useful to you and that you will write us if you have any further questions.
For the Academy,
Talan Gwynek
[1] Hitching, F.K. & S. Hitching. References to English Surnames in 1601 (Walton-on-Thames: Chas. A. Bernau, 1910).
[2] Reaney, P.H. & R.M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames (London: Routledge, 1991).
[3] Talan Gwynek. 'Yorkshire Given Names from 1379', 1997.
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/yorkshire/
[4] Withycombe, E. G. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984).
[5] Assessment Roll of the Poll-Tax for Howdenshire, Etc., in the Second Year of the Reign of King Richard II. (1379). Exchequer Lay Subsidy Rolls, No. 202/69. Originally printed in the 'Yorkshire Archaeological Journal' of unknown date.