🚀 go-pugleaf

Greetings from Arval!  Curtis asked:

>  I am interested in establishing a persona in the late 1200's to late
> 1300's..., and it just so happens that my mundane name would fit very
> nicely with a few minor alterations into that time period for someone
> from England, at least so far as I can gather.  My first name is Curt,
> which I *think* is period for Middle English, and my last name, Allred,
> comes from Aldred who was the Bishop of Kent that crowned William the
> Conqueror King of England, and so I *know* that it would be period...

I believe that you are correct that "Allred" is a correct surname for the
1300's.  I think you may be mistaken about "Curt".  "Curtis" is a given
name derived from a surname, and most such names (Craig, Scott, Danforth,
etc.) were not used as given names until after the period of the Society.
I am not sure whether or not there is some other source of "Curt" in Middle
English naming.  The best book you could check is E. G. Withycombe, "The
Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names," which is available in many
libraries.  If the name did exist in that period, it's a good bet that
Withycombe will give a dated citation of it, which is the best possible
documentation.

> So I figured that if I changed my name around a little and made it Curt
> Ald Raed it would be different eenough to be unmistakebly *not* my
> mundane name, but I don't know about this because everybody else on the
> Rialto has such exotic or at least very different names from their
> mundane...

The general approach taken to developing a persona is to create someone who
_could_ have existed in some time and place, but did not actually.  In
particular, that persona is different from your real person.  Therefore,
most people choose SCA names at least slightly different from their real
names, and usually significantly different.  If you ever want to register
your name with the College of Arms (which you must do if you want to
register arms), then your SCA name must differ from your real name in some
significant way.

> This leads into the other subject: Arms.  I wonder if anyone out there
> fights under their old family arms...?

There are probably some people in the Society who use a device to which
they believe themselves to have some claim in the real world, but one
cannot register such a device.  You can register a device which is
_similar_ to one borne by one of your ancestors (or by any other medieval
nobleman, for that matter), but not the identical arms.

> 	What I am wondering, is there a lot of overtly Christian
> panoply or ritual that occurs within the context of the SCA?

Religious ceremonies cannot be sponsored by the SCA.  Individuals may hold
religious ceremonies _at_ SCA events, and no SCA officer has the authority
to prevent them from doing so, but these ceremonies must not be or appear
to be official activities of the organization.  By and large, religion is
largely absent at most SCA events.  

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Arval Benicoeur                                       mittle@watson.ibm.com