Revised: June 2018
Not yet chosen an SCA name? Don't know where to look for ideas? Online resources are available to help you research an in-period, documentable name.
The SCA does not require you to have a persona name, so why bother? Best reason is that you get to control your own name when you take the time to choose it yourself. You don’t have to rush your decision – try one on for size at an event, and if you don’t like it, look further for a name that you’re comfortable answering to. Are you the kind of person who is prone to multiple-culture or multiple-time period activities? Choose a name that bridges cultures or persisted over a long time period.
It’s better to have flexibility when searching for your period persona name – decide on a culture and time period, and then look at articles that cover that area in those centuries. It’s a lot harder when you come at the search with a name firmly in mind, only to find that it did not exist in the culture that you are interested in! It’s important to realize that spelling has changed over time – the in-period spelling of a name can be quite different than the modern version, so try not to be too attached to a specific spelling.
The way that a culture formed a person’s name followed some well-documented rules, and the way that those rules changed over time is also well-documented. Building a period-plausible or accurate name requires more than just picking a few historical name parts and putting them together – you also need to understand how names were put together in-period.
Different cultures had different beliefs about the combination of names with animal or color elements – Old Norse culture commonly considered being called something horse-related to be an insult, so you won’t find a name like Snorri the Horse Rider among historical documents!
A historically accurate name will contain elements that are in-period for the same time period, location, and culture, and be constructed in the same way that an in-period name would have been. These are referred to historically accurate names.
A historically plausible name will contain elements that are compatible in location and general time period, but not be as exactingly matched as an absolutely accurate name would be. Often a plausible name will mix cultures (English and Irish or Scottish) or combine elements from a few centuries apart.
Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory (SENA) Appendices A and C have excellent tables on what name elements can be combined within what range of centuries to produce a period plausible name
a name that means ____________.
Name meanings are actually a more modern thing, popularized by the baby name books and sites. In-period, names just didn't usually have meaning that way. Bynames were often descriptive or occupational, so you could look for a byname that has some of the meaning you are searching for - but your first name is just a name.
the name I've been using in my (LARP, RPG, online gaming, etc.).
Here's the thing with fantasy and sci fi names - they are usually completely fictional. Or sometimes based on name read in a book or seen in a video game or movie. The chances that the fictional name you've been using can be documented are extremely slim. Sometimes heralds can find a name that sounds something like it, or comes close... But fictional things generally can't be documented. Why not take the chance to chose a truly medieval name, and develop a persona around it?
a name like I read in a historical novel or heard on a historical TV show.
Names used in fiction are very likely fictional and entirely made up. Some are loosely based on historical references (Gandalfr is an Old Norse name that we can document!) but some are entirely made up or not at all historical. The female character Siggy Haraldson in the show Vikings is a great example of this - women did not take their husband's last name in Old Norse, and we can't document Siggy as a name either. A woman in an Old Norse culture would either still be referenced as the daughter of her father after she married (Githa Ulfsdottir for example, where dottir means "daughter of" and Ulf is her father), or more rarely be referenced as the wife of her husband (Githa Gunnarskona, where kona means "wife of" and Gunnar is the husband's name.)
a name that reflects my persona story (often combining different cultures, languages, or regions).
Persona stories are a lot of fun to create. Sometimes, you base it on your own family history, so there's a lot of personal meaning. However, names in medieval times did not mix and match from different cultures to try to demonstrate a zeitgeist of an individual's life. A person would be known by a name entirely from the culture that they were living in. That doesn't mean that you can't show off some heritage in your persona name. Catalina of Aragon became Catherine of Aragon while she was in England – that locative byname gives a nod to her family origin.
a name that means "gypsy."
This is a very complicated topic. The word "gypsy" is a racial slur, it's hate-speech. We do not register that word in the SCA. We do allow registration of the byname "the Roma" and "Czygan" - terms that the Roma community have not found offensive during our research.
Some reading materials on the topic:
You don't have to go it alone! Your local heralds can either help you with the paperwork or point you toward someone who can (not all heralds specialize in names, but we often know someone who does.)
If you cannot connect with your local herald, and are in the East Kingdom, you can use the Ask a Herald form. If you are in another kingdom, I suggest writing to your kingdom submissions herald (often found on the staff list of your kingdom heraldry website) to ask them to refer you toward a herald who can help you out.
If you're stuck for connections you can always stop into SCA Heraldry Chat on Facebook. Tell the group that you're new, looking for help with a name, and share whatever you've found and where you've found it. Tell them what century you're looking for, and what culture. After that, group members will help you get the documentation you're looking for, suggest alternatives where possible, and help hook you up with a herald in your kingdom for the paperwork aspect.
Whether sending in your name on your own or working with a herald (rules vary by kingdom), when you send a name in for registration, you need to be sure to provide the heralds with full and complete documentation, and a summary of what the documentation says.
At a minimum, documentation summary must include:
Example summary:
Mergery is found in “English Given Names from 16th and Early 17th C Marriage Records” by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (http://heraldry.sca.org/names/english/parishes/parishes.html) s.n. Margery dated to 1583.
Potticary appears in Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, p. 617 s.n. Potticary, with this spelling dated to 1591. This naming pattern for English names is found in Appendix A of SENA.
If documenting a name from the Family Search Historical Records (www.familysearch.org), at a minimum, you must include the name, gender, type of record, date of record, country of record, batch number, and URL.
Example summary:
Meliana Lopez; Female; Marriage; 12 Nov 1599; Nuestra Señora De La Consolación, Ballesteros De Calatrava, Ciudad Real, Spain; Batch: M86466-1 (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FFHY-DT1)
General browsing with no culture or time period in mind
Browsing by culture/location
Acknowledgement: I am grateful for the many classes and lessons I have taken from Yehuda Blue Tyger and Alys Ogress, East Kingdom submissions heralds past and present. As always, we see further when we stand on the shoulders of giants.
This class was first presented at Pennsic 44 (2015.) Updated October 2018 with information about hate speech in names research.