[Ansteorra] Re: Ansteorra digest, Vol 1 #278 - 1 msg

[Widowelspet at aol.com]

I am going to be horrible for saying this?  Your ideas sound like a great
research paper....if not extremely time consuming.
I feel the need to say this about my own search for a name.  I just had to
have a family name.  You couldn't talk me out of it.  What I got out of my
persistence and the encouragement of others to make sure that the name fit
the time and place was this.
I learned my way around the genealogy library.
I learned about regional differences in my time and place.
I found wonderful church records from the year in which I live, which gave me
new incite into my personna.
I learned more about my own family history.
I got a great new interest in prostitutes... Why do they always have my name?
My name? Elspet no h.  Not common in Scotland 1562.  But common enough on the
eastern coast if hardly ever found elsewhere. (my family and personas home)
I would have missed all that if I had pulled it out of a book at a
consultation table, or borrowed the English Elspeth.  Understanding your name
really can be the first step in understanding your persona.