ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 943
http://www.s-gabriel.org/943
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* NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports     *
*       contain errors that we haven't yet      *
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From: "S Friedemann" 
4 May 1998

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Micah Gunnarsson> is a correct Old Norse or Icelandic
masculine name, and whether there are any restrictions on snakes or
lightening bolts in heraldic arms in the Society.  Here is the information
we have found.

<Micah> was the name of a Hebrew prophet, an author of one of the books in
the Old Testament, but we found no evidence that this name was used in Norse
society or, in fact, anywhere in medieval Europe.  The Norse did use some
Biblical names after their conversion to Christianity around 1000, but as in
all parts of medieval Christendom, they primarily used New Testament names.
The few Old Testament names that were used had important Christian
symbolism.

We found a few similar names that you might be interested in instead:
<Mikael>, <Mikja/ll>, (where the "/" represents an accent over the 'a') [1],
<Mikall>, <Mikhial> (also spelled <Mikhiael>), and <Micil>. [2]

A patronymic byname (a byname based of the father's name) formed from the
name <Gunnarr> would be <Gunnarsson>, as you thought.  [1]  Therefore a name
such as <Mikall Gunnarsson> or <Mikja/ll Gunnarsson> would be an authentic
choice for your culture.

You asked if there were any restrictions on the usage of lightning bolts and
snakes in heraldry.  For lightning bolts, there are.  You should avoid the
"shazam"-style lightning bolt, as this style has been barred by the Society
College of Arms, and instead use the period form. The best way to describe
this charge is a square wave with arrowheads on the end.  If you use a
fixed-pitch font (e.g., Courier) to read this email, you can get a fair
representation in the design shown below:

           ___     ___     ___
    /_    |   |   |   |   |   |    _\
    \ |___|   |___|   |___|   |___| /

However, we have little evidence that lightning bolts were used separate
from a charge called a thunderbolt, which is a winged, swirling pillar of
flame, sometimes shown with crossed lightening bolts behind it [3].  We
would advise you not to use lightning at all, since we have no evidence that
it was used in period arms.  Snakes, though never common, are attested in
period arms.  Different forms that we have found them in are "a snake nowed"
(tied into a knot), "a snake glissant" (in a wavy line), and "a snake
involved" (curling into a circle, biting its tail.)

Another thing that you should be aware of is that Vikings in your period did
not bear arms.  We suggest that you read the following article from the
Academy Library on this subject:

What Do I Use for Arms if my Persona Wouldn't Have Used Arms?
    http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/faq/nonheraldic.html

We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not
hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further
questions.  Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval
Benicoeur, Evan da Collaureo, Fergus Stout, Lindorm Eriksson, Livia
Montgomery, Talan Gwynek, and Walraven van Nijmege.

For the Academy,
Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael Caermyrdin

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References:

[1] Fleck, G. (aka Geirr Bassi Haraldsson), _The Old Norse Name_, Studia
Marklandica (series) (Olney, Maryland: Yggsalr Press, 1977).

[2] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n
Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and
Kobenahavn: 1931)

[3] Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme and Akagawa Yoshio, _A Pictorial
Dictionary of Heraldry as Used in the Society for Creative Anachronism_,
(privately published, 1988).