ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 937 http://www.s-gabriel.org/937 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* 9 Apr 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for documentation of as an early medieval Scottish name. We assumed that your friend wants to use as a given name. Here is what we have found. Before I start, I'd like to clarify what the Academy does. We do not try to document names that people have chosen; rather, our goal is to help people choose and use names that fit the historical cultures they want to re-create. If your friend is interested in finding a name that matches his persona, we'll be happy to help however we can. If his goal is simply to register his name, then we probably can't help him; you'd do better to consult the SCAHRLDS mailing list or the senior heralds in your kingdom. is not a Scottish name; it is a German surname, originally a descriptive byname based on a word meaning "brown". It couldn't have been used in Scotland in your friend's period. There is a similar-sounding given name which might well have been used in the early medieval Scotland: , pronounced \BRAHN\. This name was used in Gaelic, and was quite popular in early medieval Ireland [1]. We don't have evidence that it was used in the Gaelic-speaking parts of Scotland, but it is plausible to assume that it was: Irish and Scottish Gaelic were the same language in period, and many names were shared between the two cultures. To build a complete Gaelic name appropriate to his period, your friend will want to add a patronymic byname, i.e. a surname that identifies his father. If his father's name were , he could call himself . The added in is like the <'s> in ; it puts the name into a possessive form. For more information on Scottish naming, your friend may want to read the following articles, available on the web: Scottish Names 101 http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scot_names_101.html A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/simple_sc_gaelic_names_12.html Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/quick_gaelic_bynames.html 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 Tangwystyl ferch Morgant Glasvryn and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -