[antir-heralds] Basic name checking before submission

[Owen ap Morgan]

Domarr Ingvalderssen wrote:
> My client was looking for something in the 13th century welsh name area
. . .
> We dedcided on Gwen Bengoch, Gwen being a fairly common name, and
> Bengoch essentially meaning curly head.

Take another look at http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/welsh13.html .
<Bengoch> would mean _red_-head; <Bengrek> would be curly-head.  Otherwise 
it looks good.
> 
> Also, while I am at it, I have a client looking at a name of Guy as a 
> first name, and Cox as a surname, but staying in the 13th centure Briton
>  or Welsh

Nope.  Not gonna work.

Oh, he can document the name.  But barring some creative use of a time 
machine, he can't shoehorn it into that culture.

<Guy> is from a German root by way of France, imported by the Normans.
'An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris'
<http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html> cites a <Guy 
Cavessole>; Withycombe (p.143 s.n. Guy) has <Gy> from 1273, while Reaney & 
Wilson have <Richard Guy> from 1384 (p.209 s.n. Guy) and the diminutive 
<Thomas Guyot> from 1295 (p.505 s.n. Wyatt), so the spelling <Guy> seems at 
least plausible for 13th C England.

<Cox> may derive from any of several Old English sources per the discussion 
in Reaney & Wilson (p.102 s.n. Cock), but through the 13th C the cited 
forms all lack the terminal -s sound: Coc, Cok, Cocc, Cock, Koc, Kok.  In 
the 14th C you start to find the -s: Cocks, Cockes.  The first (and only) 
dated citation for the -x is 16th C.  A similar pattern is seen in names 
starting in Cox- or Cock-.

The nearest plausible 13th C name would then seem to be <Guy Cock>, or 
perhaps (stretching a little) <Guy Cocks>.  I would, however, think long 
and hard about the potential implications and connotations before 
suggesting or submitting that; gutter surfing is such a short-term 
amusement.  [Innuendo deliberate and with malice aforethought.]
> 
> ALSO I have a client looking at using the name Noel Hudson, 13th century
>  Welsh.

Delightful name, and from indications plausibly 13th C.  About as Welsh as 
Buckingham Palace, though.

<Noel> is in Withycombe (p.229 s.n. Noel), cited from 1273 and said to be 
used by both sexes.  Its roots are, of course, French.

<Hudson> can be interpolated from various entries in Reaney & Wilson: 
<John Hudsone>, cited from 1323 as 'son of Hudd' (p.242 s.n. Hudson); 
<Roger Hudman>, cited from c.1248 as 'servant of Hudd' (p.242 s.n. Hudman); 
<John Rayson>, cited from 1294 as 'son of Ray' (p.373 s.n. Rayson).  Absent 
any convincing reason for doubt, <Hudson> should be plausible for a late 
13th C spelling.  <Hudd>, however, is a pet form of either <Hugh> or 
<Richard>; both of these, like <Guy> above, came to England from German 
roots through France.

Owen ap Morgan