The Armour Archive

Damned the Sassanach puirsevaints and Heralds.....their eyes always become "goiter like" and get tongue tangled trying to pronounce simple Gaelic names.

Being of the persuasion that Gaelic personae are overrepresented in the SCA, I seldom miss an opportunity to deliberately mispronounce the name of any Gaelic persona with whom I come into contact.

THIS is why I have an hour-long class on Welsh and Gaelic pronunciation. I could probably chop it apart and make it two hour-long classes, one on each language, but that will have to wait until after the holidays. (I did it mostly for my own nefarious purposes - at a rapier tourney this summer, I mangled a gentle's name so consistently that he gave me permission to herald him onto the field as "Warder That-guy" *point*. I found out at Court that evening he'd made my AoA scroll. Figured the least I could do was learn to get his name right!)

I chose a persona name when I joined the SCA because it was "the thing to do" and seemed very DnD like at the time, which the SCA also seemed to be. I changed my last name a few times. but it was largely meaningless, as no one really knows you by anything but your first name in the SCA, or by something like, "Alaric, that young guy from Atlantia who's an unbelt but a good fighter... is he Lucan's squire?"

Over the last few years, my "persona" has become more and more meaningless, and I have encouraged people to just call me George, which most people do now. Regardless of the "rule" against it, I use both my first and last names in the SCA now, as I don't want a "persona" anymore- I have become more interested in trying to make my costumes accurate, and don't give a rat's ass about "persona play" in the SCA. Recently, friends of mine convinced me to join their Crusade, so I received a Crusader outfit. Since in it, I looked like (and fight like) my friend Sascha St. Martin, we started joking that I was Sascha St. George. I fought in one tourney as Sascha St. George (known as George), and people were totally confused, "who is this new guy who is really good!" Isn't he from the Middle? Etc etc. Ha! So, I fought in Crown as Sascha St. George too. I had some good fun with the name change, and now, it's stuck. I just like it, and think it's funny. So, people can call me Alaric, Sascha, or George. I don't care. George is best. Sascha is funniest. Alaric I still answer to.

But as for changing your name, trust me, it's a pain in the ass. Do it if you want, but people will always call you by the name they remember you as.

Oh yes, I have also fought as Elvis of Memphis (documented it), Spicy Spice (didn't document it), and Harald Callahan the Unclean (documented it too). And yes, the story is true, I did fight myself once, when Alaric had to fight Elvis of Memphis.

St. G-

At Josh...

When I joined in 1971, Gaelic names were actually rare.

Josh W wrote:I try to forget that I have an "SCA name."

The notion of an alternate persona is one of the silliest things in the SCA, and I try to discourage people who know my SCA name from addressing me by it as much as possible.

Period name or alternate persona is not required in the SCA. Why let it bother?

When I played in the SCA I picked a period name and almost made a persona as well. If I get back into it I will keep the name as SCA folks know me as that but I dropped the whole idea of a persona.

Sascha St. George wrote:<STUFF> Oh yes, I have also fought as Elvis of Memphis (documented it), Spicy Spice (didn't document it), and Harald Callahan the Unclean (documented it too). And yes, the story is true, I did fight myself once, when Alaric had to fight Elvis of Memphis.

St. G-

You'll be Duke Spicy Elvis the Sparkly. (And you'll like it!)

When I first started in the SCA I was Alrek Soaringspear...then I found out that I couldn't throw a spear 10 feet... and I was stuck with the nickname Rabbit...something to do with my idea of viking wearing furs in the 80's. So I documented Alrek Kanin...(Kanin meaning Rabbit in Norse) and went with the viking persona for about 7 years then to 15th c. German when there were no patterns and we made HIDEOUS clothing and then oen day I decided that leather doublets and thigh high leather boots were not for Oklahoma and TX in the summer and changed to Roman. I documented Cassius Lepus...(Lepus in latin for Rabbit... get the trend... no one called me anything else really). Now I after being a late Roman centurion in the middle of the Sassanian empire and finding a great wife it is time again for a change... 14th c England, still looking for the name though but SCA folks are the easiest folks to let you change your name and they will use your new one after a few tries. We all take new names in the SCA and meet new folks all the time that have 2 or 3 names so CHANGE AWAY... in a year no one will remember your old documented name.

"To be fair outside of Jewish circles one has to be careful with Old Testament names."

IE those older OT Jewish names that were made popular in the NT; John, Joseph, Maria, Adam, Simon etc, plus the huge range of Franco/Germanic names that were popular in Northern Europe, Southern and Eastern have different ranges of names.

I may even join the SCA and have name, possibly 15th C POrtuguese, with loads of accents and sedillas

No matter what I could ever document, I'd always be called Ghita. Ive been Ghita since before the SCA activity. More people know me as Ghita than by my real name, both in and out of the SCA, including family. I like Ghita, Id like to stick with it. When I early on chose to go with a document-able name, a friendly herald was able to find a reference to ghita in 14th century Italy. Thus an Italian persona was chosen.

Except I really dont WANT an Italian persona. My name is Italian just because it was the only way to document my non-sca name and get it passed. I even stopped making Norse garb for a little while and learned how to make cotehardies and later period items. But the truth is I kept realizing that none of it was really me and it was just silly...so Ive started going back to the Norse garb and such.

If there was any way in the world I could mangle "ghita" into a Norse persona I'd do it.

I changed my last name when adopted by Duke Siegfried and Duchess Wanda (Von Halstern).

For that I would change my last name. I was then, and still remain Max, however. It's my mundane name, I started when I was only 14 or so, and we were a German household. Worked.

Max VH

Cassius the Rabbit wrote:When I first started in the SCA I was Alrek Soaringspear...then I found out that I couldn't throw a spear 10 feet... and I was stuck with the nickname Rabbit...something to do with my idea of viking wearing furs in the 80's. So I documented Alrek Kanin...(Kanin meaning Rabbit in Norse) and went with the viking persona for about 7 years then to 15th c. German when there were no patterns and we made HIDEOUS clothing and then oen day I decided that leather doublets and thigh high leather boots were not for Oklahoma and TX in the summer and changed to Roman. I documented Cassius Lepus...(Lepus in latin for Rabbit... get the trend... no one called me anything else really). Now I after being a late Roman centurion in the middle of the Sassanian empire and finding a great wife it is time again for a change... 14th c England, still looking for the name though but SCA folks are the easiest folks to let you change your name and they will use your new one after a few tries. We all take new names in the SCA and meet new folks all the time that have 2 or 3 names so CHANGE AWAY... in a year no one will remember your old documented name.

Ooo. I'll have a go.

Alexander l'Hare. Shortened, Alexander is really close to Alrek, and l'Hare, well...should be obvious. Both names I can document to C14 England.

Bob (who is officially Robert Fairfax but is more widely known as "Bob", "Kass McGann's husband", or "Oi! You!"

In Markland, people were warned that if they did not pick a name, one may be picked for them!

In the Longship Company most of our crew go by their civilian names when not at a reenactment or harbor festival; then there is always the alternative:

"#6 Port Oar; put down that goat! Didn't your parents tell you not to 'play' with your food?"

Cap'n Atli wrote:In Markland, people were warned that if they did not pick a name, one may be picked for them!

In my Roman reenactment group, we have a similar tradition - we reserved the right to put the new guys cognomen to a vote, or veto their choice and pick a more fitting one - we've had several fellows whose cognomen ended up being something that translates to 'asshole and a half'...

kfinna wrote:THIS is why I have an hour-long class on Welsh and Gaelic pronunciation. I could probably chop it apart and make it two hour-long classes, one on each language, but that will have to wait until after the holidays. (I did it mostly for my own nefarious purposes - at a rapier tourney this summer, I mangled a gentle's name so consistently that he gave me permission to herald him onto the field as "Warder That-guy" *point*. I found out at Court that evening he'd made my AoA scroll. Figured the least I could do was learn to get his name right!)

Just a guess- Cy?

My wife and I have changed our names. I went from Talbot Mac Taggart to William Talbot and she went form Freydis Haakonsdottir to Amy Talbot. I use Talbot as my one and only name (Like Cher and Bono) and she uses Amy as much an anything. Neither of us minds if others use our old names or our new ones. We just wanted more English names for 1386.

When I joined the SCA a decade or so ago, I picked the name Bastiano Francisco de Valencia, both for my interest in 15th Century Spain and to honor a friend of mine who had passed before we ever got a chance to join the SCA together.

Through the years, my interests have changed and I found myself drawn repeatedly to the Battle of Agincourt as inspiration, and thus, my kit became less and less "15th Century Spaniard" and more and more "14th Century Englishman". Yet still, I am called Bastiano. When my stepfather passed, I had great pause to reflect on all he showed me, all he taught me in life, and I realized that he was a much larger influence on my interest in chivalry and such things than I had ever noticed. So I made a resolution that, one day, I would change my SCA name to honor him, likely using his middle name "Whitney" (there are many others in his family that share the same first and last name, all with different middle names). I also decided that, should I ever be knighted, I would like to be knighted under as close to my real name as possible...to reflect the fact that I try to be knightly regardless of whether I am in silly clothes or not.

Imagine my great delight in discovering that there was a Marc (granted, my name is spelled with a K) de Whitteney at Agincourt!

I've discused all this with my knight, and we've decided that I will remain Bastiano for now, but should I be chosen for knighthood, we will have a "renaming" ceremony included, that I can be knighted under a name I feel better fits who I've become in the SCA.

My name was registered before I settled in on my final persona, now I'm a XIII century Russian named Bjorn. It could happen...

Mundane name: Marc
SCA name: Marcus

Why? It's easy, and it sounds like I put a little effort in to it. After making a switch from 1250ish to 750ish, it doesn't quite fit so much. Will I change it? Nope. I like my name, and who I am. I just want to be me, a history geek, that gets to live it a little bit in the SCA. I'm not really into the LARP aspect.



Marcus

When I moved from Tennessee to Georgia in 1988, I added an "o" to the end of my SCA name, changing Adrian to Adriano. For two reasons: I was interested in Italian medieval culture, and I wanted to differentiate myself from someone else named Adrian, with whom I definitely didn't want to be confused. Never filed for a name change; just started adding the "o", and next time I re-upped my membership, the change was reflected on my card, so I guess it's official.

(Lots of people used to style their names in several different ways; and the same name would be spelled differently in different countries.)

But I don't role-play, don't think much about my "persona"; at events I'm basically me in a different outfit. So if I were starting over in the SCA, I'd just use my real name, Steven.

so I'm definitely going with Ceadda. I just need an "of (place name)" that I like. Either that, or take my Master's norse name, with his permission, and add the ubiqutous "-son" to the end of it, as he did when he was squired.

Ceadda Arnulfson?

Almost everyone goes through a few name permutations at the beginning. The point of a name, even if it's a simple change - being Robert instead of Bob - or even a name with a bit of humor, is that it becomes a signifier for you that helps mark you out within the Society or your organization as much as your clothing change, armor or camp. Many people use elements of their own daily names, but put them in an entirely different context than the one they live with: Bob York in the IT department can be Robert of Yorkshire, yeoman to Duke Richard, Susan Norman can become Suzanne de Normandy.

What's important is that it defines you within the context of the world we create. Yeah, that's a little bit on the geeky side, but who the hell cares? More importantly, it's another piece of the impetus that makes what we do fun and gives us a flavor of period, even if we don't quite manage to create a literal interpretation of 13th century France (or whatever period we aim for).

It allows us to be something other than Bob in IT or Susan in marketing.

There is a distinct reason that so many cultures place a great deal of importance on the role of the name and its ability to define and control an individual, both culturally and spiritually. We take it pretty seriously in the SCA too, or we wouldn't have a college of heralds who have a stranglehold on whether or not you can officially register what you want to be called, and rules about how close you can be to someone else's moniker.

There may be three different Sir Roberts in a Kingdom, but the rest of their names are all rather different, or they wouldn't be using those names - if you've got Robert of Yorkshire, you may also have Robert James de la Pole and Robert Maarten of Antwerp, but you won't have Robert of Yorkshire and Robert York of Shire.

Likewise, it seems to me that making sure you're defined the way you want to be within the context of the SCA is fairly important.

I chose the name Alexander Clarke because it was a name I had used while doing Renn Fair stage combat. Originally I had wanted to go with Phillipe, but that never took, so I tried Gustav, that didn't take either. So i went back to Alexander, and that is what I am at today.

To my surprise Alexander Clarke passed the College of Heralds on the first try!

To azure d'or....as the original and former "Trident Puirsuivant" of Calafia (1971-1972), that is pretty much how I explained it to newbies. You couldn't use "Rolaids Son of Tums" or use the name of a fictional or real personage. So many sort of tried the "Fictional" path but most SCAers are avid readers...especially history and fantasy. But there have been exceptions.

However, a problem does arise when a person has used a name for so long, they become identified with with it. Yet cannot register a device using it because the documentation rules became so stringent. I know a few early members that got away with it though.

Laurie, my friends Sir Iain and Sir Connal, who are generally more historically minded in their music, have a parody song about disastrous SCA name choices - "Pickin' Out Names" to the tune of the old country hit "Pickin' Up Bones." It involves a guy who starts out fairly period, but gets confused by heraldic rules. One of the last lines is "And now I'm Zorro Gandalf Pocahontas Charlemagne ... "

Our whole family has the same last name in SCA, if our children decide to change their names when they get older that is fine with us, but at this point I think we will stay the same until our kids start changing if they wish.