NK - The Philosophical Aspects of Free Time

[Scott Fridenberg]

> If people have time, I would love stories of how you chose your names and
> personas and which came first period or name.
>
> Susan
> shamrock at intcon.net
>
>
>    When I started I hovered around the edges of things for quite a while
> before really getting involved.  I noticed that many people had what I
> considered "twinky" names.  Not that I knew much about naming practices in
> period, but there was always the suspicion that some of these people were
> named after their D & D characters.  For a time period I was kinda leaning
> toward early 12th C England during the civil war between Stephen and Maude.
> I chose that period mostly because of the Brother Cadfael novels by Ellis
> Peters.  I decided that I wanted a very ordinary non-twinky name.  In reading
> history books of the perion I noticed that the name Robert seemed fairly
> common,  usually Robert Fitz- something.  Then I did a twinky thing.  I was
> also reading the Deryni books by Katherin Kurts and my favorite character was
> Aleric Morgan.  Morgan seemed to be a legitimate enough name so i chose
> Robert Fitzmorgan.  Turns out that Morgan is a ligitamate enough name if you
> are Celtic,  and Robert Fitz- something or other is fine if you are Norman in
> that time,  but the two don't  go together.

        Then  a few years later I discovered the Troubadours and the culture of
the Midi, in what is now southern France, but was culturally and linguistically
distinct from France at that time.  So my persona moved accross the channel and
forward about 60 years.  Now the "Fitz" and the "Morgan" are both inapproiate
for my persona, and I haven't run accross any "Roberts" in that culture.  So
the name isn't really suitable now and I keep thinking of changing it, but
haven't gotten around to it yet.

Robert Fitzmorgan