Names!

So I puttered around some more yesterday, looking at name stuff and doing conflict checks. Turns out Elianora/Eleanor/Alienor/Ellenor and all 15 other spellings are very popular in the SCA. So popular, in fact, that getting one registered that didn't conflict was going to be a serious issue. I think it's probably because of Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the fact that for the 150 years after her half of the queens were named Eleanor, along with at least one daughter of most major English and French and Spanish nobles.

Anne/Anna is much less common - in fact, there are only 5 other people with Anne or Anna names that have R- last names (and most aren't English). The name Anne is found in every major European country for most of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (including Russia), probably because it's a major Saint's name. But, even with all that, not many SCAdians seem to pick it - my only guess can be that it sounds too normal/mundane, where Elianora is something of an old-sounding name, or late-period sounding name. Either way, Anne is documentable to England from 1218 onward, and was pretty popular starting in the mid 14th century, so it's a good fit. (not to mention that several of my Warcraft characters have Ann or Anna names, so I'm used to being called that!)

The kicker, though, was the monogram. E's are not that fun to write for me, I can never make them look good. A's on the other hand, are rather easy... and AR is... well look:


Isn't that pretty?! I want to use it as a sort of "device" - a way to mark and distinguish my stuff.

So anyway, I went to fighter practice last night to meet with our herald, Brian, and get this done, and look at the last name book. And I was successful! The name "Anne atte Rydeforde" is on its way to Kingdom to be approved! yay! (atte Rydeforde basically means Anne that lives by the reedy stream - it's a byname, rather than a surname)