[ANSTHRLD] Help Needed on: The correct spelling of names for the Crown Tourney's Court Report

[Kimberly Koch]

Hi Lucianna,

> Vara Sigurdsdottir
This one is correct as is.

> Ilari Rhiannon
Rhiannon ferch Cian

> Britter Herald
Fridhur Haralds

> Diane DeLock Alendre
Dyan du Lac des Calandres

> Jeanviave De La Ganva
Genevieve del Gamba

> Centurian Richard
Richard of Durnford

> Morgan Buchanon
Morgan Buchanan

Technically, I'm more of a scribe than a herald, but I
really appreciate that you're making an effort to find
the correct spellings for these names. I use the OP
all the time, and you are helping to make it more
accurate and easier to use, just by making sure your
report is correct. Thank you! :)

I've been Sable Scroll a couple of times, which means
that I have had the job of filling out the award
scrolls that get handed out in court. When I receive
the list of names for scrolls, they are often
obviously misspelled or they conflict with the
spelling that I'm familiar with (this is usually
because people misspell the name on the award
recommendation), so I know how hard it can be to
determine what the correct spelling of a name is (and
it's much harder when you're trying to work from
phonetic spellings, and in the dark!)

Here are some suggestions for puzzling out the right
spellings when you're not sure:

First of all, while you are still at the event, talk
to the court herald who read the awards, or to the
Sable Scroll if you know who they are (right now, it's
Mistress Serena Lascelles, but it changes every
reign). These two people are the most likely to have a
complete, accurately spelled list of awards, and they
can help you with your report. I never minded being
asked for the awards list when I was Sable Scroll
(*after* court, of course), and I usually find that
the court herald is more than happy to help also. 

If you get home with a court report that you were
unable to verify on site, you can check spellings in
several ways:
- The OP. As you noted, it's sometimes hard to find
what you need in the OP, especially if you only have
phonetic spellings (this is why it's so helpful to
talk to the herald or Sable Scroll while you are still
on site). However, it *is* pretty accurate these days,
and you can often find what you need by using the
search function - you can do partial searches, so that
even if you only know part of a name, you might be
able to locate the right one. For instance, if you
search on "Rhiannon," you'll get a list of every
Rhiannon in the OP, whether it's used as a first or
middle name. It also helps to try searching on
alternate spellings (like "Dyan" instead of "Diane").
- The online ordinary and armorial at
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/OandA/index.html. You can
search this database for people's registered names. If
someone doesn't have their name registered, it won't
help, but it's otherwise a good resource for finding
accurate spellings. If you look up "Rhiannon ferch
Cian" (which is one of the names you would turn up if
you first did a search in the OP on "Rhiannon"),
you'll find that her registered name *used* to be
Eleri Rhiannon ferch Cian (explaining one little
mystery...)
- Watch the Ansteorra list for happy announcements
about the awards given at the event. This doesn't
always happen, but when it does, you often get good
spellings, or ones that at least give you a better way
to search the OP than phonetic spellings.
- Check out the website of the hosting group. For
instance, if you look at the webpage for Rosenfeld,
who hosted Crown Tourney, you'll find that Mistress
Rhiannon ferch Cian is listed on the officer page.
These listings usually have accurate spellings. 
- Check the archives of the hosting group's local
email list, if they have one. If you can find a signed
post from one of the people on your list, that's a
great way to find an accurate spelling, because people
don't usually misspell their own names. :)

When I find conflicting spellings for a name, I try to
go with the one that's listed in the OP (unless I'm
absolutely certain that it's spelled wrong in the OP),
so that all the awards for a single person are still
listed under a single name.

All of these still have the potential for error, but
they'll get you pretty close to accurate most of the
time. :)

Thanks for all your hard work!

Warm regards,
Sara Penrose
former Sable Scroll
and big fan of the OP :)

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