1: Aedan Makkynon - New Name forwarded & New Device forwarded

Per pale sable and argent, a raven contourny counterchanged.

Submitter desires a male name. No major changes. He cares most about "Scotts"; no checkboxes are marked. Aedan is based on Aed, a header in Black (p. 9), identified as "one of the most popular of Gaelic names", and dated to 942 and c. 1150 in this spelling, and on Aidan, also a header in Black (p. 10), identified as a diminutive of Aed, and dated in the header spelling to c. 608. Makkynon is dated to 1536 in Black p. 531 s.n. Mackinnon.

Aedan appears as a Welsh masculine name in Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn's "The First Thousand Years of British Names", Appendix V: Given names from the Llandav charters (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/british1000/appendix4_5.html). The exact date isn't given, but the material comes from the 6th to 10th centuries. According to Arval Benicoeur's "Concerning the Names Aidan, Aédán, Aodh, and the Like" (http://medievalscotland.org/problem/names/aidan.shtml), there were at least two 6th and 7th century Irish saints named Áedán, but the name went out of use after the 10th century, and the saint's name was spelled differently (Aodhán) in later period Irish. (It's impossible to tell which footnote/reference goes with which statement, but the following are cited: Withycombe, OCM, Woulfe, The Catholic Encyclopedia's entries on St. Aidan of Lindisfarne and St. Aedan of Ferns, and The Annals of the Four Masters.) Therefore, there are two steps from period practice in the submitted name: one for the roughly 600-year temporal disparity between the spelling of the given name and the surname, and one for the language combination (Irish or Welsh and Anglicized Scottish Gaelic). The section on saint's names on the Sep. 2001 Cover Letter says "the form that the saint's name takes in the submitted name is subject to the standard rules and precedents", so the allowance does not remove either of these steps from period practice. The simplest fix would be to change the spelling of the given name to the later-period form, Aodhán. However, this may qualify as a change in language, which is a major change, which the submitter does not allow. I'm not certain that it is a change in language, however, and I've been unsuccesful in finding a precedent on the matter, so I'm forwarding the name (unchanged) for Pelican's delectation.

2: István Nyiregyhazi - Resub Device forwarded

Per chevron ploye throughout Or and sable, an alquerques board Or and in chief two flowers gules slipped and leaved vert.

His name was registered in Aug. 1998, via the East. His previous device submission, originally blazoned the same as this one, was returned on the Oct. 2004 LoAR (R-East) because the emblazon gave the "unmistakable impression" of three co-primary charges, and thereby conflicted with Sine Ealasaid Leanora Kyntire (June 1983 West): Per chevron Or and sable, two roses gules, barbed and seeded proper, and a cup Or, with just one CD for changing the cup to a game board. This submission features (hopefully) unmistakably secondary flowers to clear this conflict.

The previous return strongly implied (but didn't explicitly state) that smaller and therefore secondary flowers would clear the cited conflict. However, current precedent holds that regardless of size, the flowers can't be secondary (Jan. 2008 LoAR - Pends: Ia ingen Áeda): two types of charges on either side of a line of division are always co-primary. (No information is given about why this is so, or what part of the rules or what aspect of period practice the precedent is based on.) This creates something of a quandary here: per instructions, the flowers have been redrawn so they're much too small to be co-primary, and yet precedent declares them so. The question is sufficiently murky that I'm "passing the buck", and asking for clarification of the precedent.

3: Meryck O'Brian - New Name forwarded & New Device forwarded

Vert, a phoenix Or and in base three goutes in pile inverted argent.

Submitter desires a male name. Spelling most important. If Marek is deemed unregisterable, the submitter will accept Meryck, which is found in Bardsley p. 528 s.n. Merrick [possibly dated 1563, but I can't quite tell]. Marek is found in "Polish Given Names in Nazwiska Polaków" by Walraven van Nijmegen (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/walraven/polish/) as a form of Marcus (Mark). It's also a header in Wickenden (2nd ed.), identified as a masculine name meaning 'destruction' and dated to 1143. (Wickenden 3rd ed. repeats the gloss, but dates the name to 1558.) O'Brien is [allegedly] found in Woulfe s.n. Mac Brien, and OCM s.n. Brian says "Brian Boru, victor at the battle of Clontauf and ancestor of the Uí Briain (O'Briens)".

O'Brien is only found in Woulfe (p. 442 s.n. O Briain) as a post-period Anglicized form; under Mac Briain on p. 323 the only italicized (late- or just-post-period) spelling given is M'Brian. The submitted O'Brien has therefore been changed to O'Brian to better match the available documentation.

R&W s.n. Merrick has Meurich 1187 and Meuricus 1207 as given names, and ap Meuric 1391, Merrycke 1545 as surnames, while Bardsley (accessed via Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=RbkEAAAAIAAJ) s.n. Merrick has Meurik Hen. III - Edw. I as a given name, and Meriche 1379, Miricheson 1379, Mericke 1550, Meryck 1563, Merricke, Mayrick, or Maericke 1582, and Merrick 1610 as surnames. R&W says it's from Meuric, the Welsh form of Maurice. A combination of Anglicized Irish with either English or Welsh is a step from period practice, but registerable (Gareth McGilchrist, 11/04; and Ryan de Caergybi, 05/03).

Apparently, nobody has tried to combine Polish or Russian with Anglicized Irish yet, but the signs are not hopeful: Anglicized Irish is unregisterable with Italian, Spanish, or Yiddish; Gaelic cannot be combined with Russian; Polish plus English is unregisterable, and Russian plus Elizabethan English is a step from period practice. Based on these precedents, I believe the submitted combination is highly unlikely to be allowable. The submitted Marek has therefore been changed to Meryck, as specifically allowed by the submitter, in order to make the name registerable.

This name should be clear of Marcan O Brien (Oct. 1995 Middle) and Mara O'Brien (Nov. 1993 Atenveldt), because the given names look and sound different.

This device is clear of Tuathal Mac Crimthainn (July 2005 Caid): Vert, on a phoenix Or a compass star azure, with one CD for adding secondary charges and another for removing the tertiary charge.

4: Patricio de Cordoba - New Household Name returned

La Hermandad de Los Desdichados

Submitter desires a male name. Client requests authenticity for Spanish 14c - 15c. Language (Spanish) most important. Culture (Spanish) most important. Meaning (Brotherhood of the Disinherited) most important. His name and device were registered in April 1997, via the East. According to a sticky note, he'll accept changes to the designator, such as "order" or "compaigne" or "compañia". There's also a note in the margin saying "Client wishes to have a free-lance company in Spanish or Latin". "Medieval Names of Some Knightly Orders" by Ursula Georges (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ursula/ordernames.html) has "the Order of the Band" (la Orden de la Banda, la Orden de la Vanda) as an example of a Spanish order. Hermandad is listed as 'brotherhood' and desdichados as 'disinherited' in a Spanish dictionary. de los is [asserted to be] Spanish for 'of the'.

The association of "desdichado" with the meaning "disinherited" stems from a mistranslation popularized by Scott's Ivanhoe. According to John Minsheu's Dictionarie in Spanish and English from 1599 (http://www.ems.kcl.ac.uk/content/proj/anglo/dict/popups/91.html), desDichádo means 'vnfortunate, vnhappie', and the word for 'disinherited' is desHeredádo. This same dictionary lists Hermandád with the meaning 'brotherhood, the order or fraternitie of friers' (marked as a word of Arabic or Moorish origin). According to the title page, accents are provided as a guide to pronunciation.

The Encyclopedia Britannica online s.v. hermandad (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/263110/hermandad) offers support for Hermandad de [location] as a name for an SCA household, modeled on the unions organized for police purposes in medieval Castile. Examples cited in the article include the hermandad of Toledo, Talavera, and Villa Real; the royally-established Santa Hermandad, and the Hermandad de las Marismas ('of the marshes'). Support for using "disinherited" as the name of such a brotherhood, however, is lacking: commenters doubt that this status would be something that a medieval person would wish to advertise, and no evidence was found for anything like the construction "brotherhood of the [abstract, negative adjective]", in any language. The name must therefore be returned for further work.

5: Tessa the Amnesiac - New Name returned & New Device therefore also returned

Potenty argent and gules, a serpent glissant embowed counterembowed and in base a roundel sable.

Submitter desires a female name. No major changes. Meaning most important. Tessa is found in "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of Florence of 1427" by Arval Benicoeur (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/catasto/). Amnesiac: the online Merriam-Webster dictionary (http://merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amnesiac) gives a date of 1618 under the header 'amnesia'.

No evidence was provided or found for a byname meaning 'forgetful' in Italian, so this must be viewed as an Italian given name combined with an English byname, which is a step from period practice (Veronica de Holloway, 09/99), though registerable. However, the evidence for the English name is inadequate. Even if we take the online dictionary's date at face value, it applies to the header form ('amnesia'), not to the word submitted. The OED only gives well-post-period dates for "amnesia" and related words, and the term appears in neither Bartolomæo Castello's Lexicon Medicum Graeco-Latinum from 1607, nor Steven Blankaart's (Stephanus Blancardus) Lexicon Novum Medicum Graeco-Latinum from 1679. Also, using a highly-gray-area word to construct a descriptive byname is problematic: by the 16th century, English surnames were for the most part fixed and inherited. Therefore, this name is not "compatible with period naming practices" as the Rules for Submissions require, and must be returned.

Without a valid name submission to attach it to, the device must unfortunately be returned as well: only Laurel can create holding names.

6: Finnghuala Rowan - Resub Device forwarded

Per bend sinister gules and sable, a dog passant argent spotted sable between in bend two hearts ermine.

Her first device submission (Per bend sinister gules and sable, a Dalmatian passant proper between in dexter chief a heart sable and in base a heart gules) was returned on the May 2008 LoD for contrast and blazonability issues. Her previous resubmission (Per bend sinister gules and sable, a Dalmatian passant proper between in bend two hearts ermine) was returned on the August 2008 LoD for a redraw, because the blazonability issues had not been resolved, and because the size of the ermine spots on the hearts made them indistinguishable from the spots on the Dalmatian. These issues have hopefully been resolved. The submitter included documentation for Dalmatian-like dogs in period, but not for the term 'Dalmatian' itself, so the blazon has been revised to a dog argent spotted sable rather than a Dalmatian proper (especially as Dalmatians can have brown spots as well as black).