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Harry J. Fletcher




Location: Lost in Texas
Joined: 19 Aug 2009
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PostPosted: Tue 06 Oct, 2009 7:28 pm    Post subject: Personal Names for Swords         Reply with quote

Ever give your sword a personal name? If so you are in company with some historical greats. Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway 1093 - 1103, called his sword LEG BITER. Roland's sword was named DURENDAL (enduring) and Charlemagne's was JOYEUSE (Joyous) while the Saracen Emir Baligant named his PRECIEUSE (Precious) so it would not be inferior to Charlemagne's.

To prevent confusion (or maybe even to copy Charlemagne) I gave my Windlass 13th century sword the name BIG UGLY. The Cheness Oniyuri Bujinkan was named REPRIMANDE and the Yamakami SGC Is called THE BEAST. My Valiant Armory Celtic anthropomorphic was called GRAINE (Irish for fearsome woman) while my Spartan Lakonian was named after LYCURGUS (Wolfwork). My Reeve from Albion presented a problem and I finally settled on PARAGON since it was so well made.

Let's hear the names you have given your swords. I bet they are imaginative.

To Study The Edge of History


Last edited by Harry J. Fletcher on Tue 06 Oct, 2009 9:57 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Joe Fults




Location: Midwest
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PostPosted: Tue 06 Oct, 2009 8:49 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

"The Munich"

"The DelTin"

"The Arma Bohemia"

Not very interesting but sufficiently descriptive for me. Eek! Big Grin

"The goal shouldn’t be to avoid being evil; it should be to actively do good." - Danah Boyd
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Harry J. Fletcher




Location: Lost in Texas
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PostPosted: Tue 06 Oct, 2009 9:58 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Joe, don't let your imagination run wild now! LOL Laughing Out Loud Laughing Out Loud Laughing Out Loud Laughing Out Loud

let's see...the Muncher? Del Monte? Big Bopper? Eek! Razz Razz Laughing Out Loud Laughing Out Loud

How about ...Mincer? Can Opener? Big Bo? Laughing Out Loud Laughing Out Loud Laughing Out Loud Laughing Out Loud

To Study The Edge of History


Last edited by Harry J. Fletcher on Wed 07 Oct, 2009 1:04 pm; edited 2 times in total
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M. Eversberg II




Location: California, Maryland, USA
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PostPosted: Wed 07 Oct, 2009 1:52 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Here you go!

M.

This space for rent or lease.
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Wed 07 Oct, 2009 6:29 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Here is a Topic thread asking basically the same question with a lot of replies you might find interesting:
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=1311&start=0

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
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PostPosted: Wed 07 Oct, 2009 6:46 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I usually don't name my swords past what the maker calls it i.e. my " Black Prince " or my " Doge " or my " Sovereign " etc ...

But with a special custom piece I did give it a name: RavenWolf

Here is a pic from the maker's site: http://www.ollinsworddesign.com/osd-custom-RW.html

There is a link on that site page to a Topic on " myArmoury " giving the background for the name as well as the whole design and the " making of " process.

Here is the link to the Topic to save time:
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=8131

Again to save search time as the Topic is a very long multipage one, here is a quote from that thread where I explain the choice of name:

Quote:
Yes I picked a name as I mentioned quite a few posts before.

So, I call it RAVENWOLF in one word:

1) Sounds cool
2) After googling a lot of other names to see if they were already associated with something or worse " something VILE or negative " and to try to be original this name gave me the fewest number of search results ( At least at the time, some months ago. ).
3) The Wolf part because if I was making some heraldry design choices I would have a wolf in it.
" Swords will gnaw like wolves through armour "
This from this site: http://www.mythicalrealm.com/legends/valkyries.html
4) Ravens from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valkyrie
Specific quote:
" Whereas the wolf was the valkyrie's mount, the valkyrie herself appears to be akin to the raven, flying over the battlefield and "choosing" corpses[2]. Thus, the packs of wolves and ravens that scavenged the aftermath of battles may have been seen as serving a higher purpose ".

So there we have it the whys for the name: RAVENWOLF

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
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Pauli Vennervirta





Joined: 12 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Wed 07 Oct, 2009 8:26 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

As a joke, I told on another forum that my rather girly transitional rapier by Darkwood would deserve a name of a period lady. A friend came up with Doña Catalina, after a historical person, Catalina de Erauso. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalina_de_Erauso

And the rapier:


So, Doña Catalina it is.
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Jeremy V. Krause




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PostPosted: Wed 07 Oct, 2009 8:59 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I have a seax made by Tod of Tod's Stuff which sort of has a name,

It has "luetfrit" inscribed on it so I might sometimes call it that- or little Leutfrit- just to be cute. I am just as likely to call it My Seax or The Seax.

Honestly I would kind of feel like a dork if I naked my weapons but I'm very self conscious. Wink Laughing Out Loud

Jeremy
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Harry J. Fletcher




Location: Lost in Texas
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PostPosted: Wed 07 Oct, 2009 12:24 pm    Post subject: Jean - Well Done         Reply with quote

Jean, sounds like you really put a lot of research and thought into selecting a name for that very special sword. Valkyrie and Wolf as mythological concepts united in a single name was an excellent idea. I only put some thought into naming LYCURGUS, my Spartan Lakonian, as Lycurgus was the founder and law giver of the Spartan way of life. He is supposed to be a manisfestation of Appollo who sometimes takes the form of a wolf. In fact Lycurgus means wolf work.

Everyone can have a Tinker Pearce Viking, a Black Prince, or even a Reeve and there are hundreds of these swords out there if not thousands. But I want my sword to be special and so I give it a name. Each sword has its special qualities for me and so deserves a special name to distinguish it from all the others out there. Kind of like "...this sword is mine...there are many like it...but this one is mine..." To merely differeniate my swords from all the others I could simply call them LARRY, MOE, and CURLY; however, since each sword has its special qualities for me it gets a special name. I think that the Great Kings and Knights of history felt that way too. Wink Wink

To Study The Edge of History
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Harry J. Fletcher




Location: Lost in Texas
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PostPosted: Wed 07 Oct, 2009 1:00 pm    Post subject: Paul & Jeremy - You Have Good Names for Your Weapons         Reply with quote

I think DONA is an excellent name for a rapier...a really and truly great name! Right on, Paul!

Jeremy, LITTLE LEUTFRIT sounds like a good fit, use it. It's a good name.

If the great kings of history did it, and the knights did it, you can do it. Go ahead and call your rapier and seax your pet name, it will endear it to you even more.

To Study The Edge of History


Last edited by Harry J. Fletcher on Wed 07 Oct, 2009 5:13 pm; edited 1 time in total
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David Wilson




Location: In a van down by the river
Joined: 23 Aug 2003

Posts: 802

PostPosted: Wed 07 Oct, 2009 5:04 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

One of the finest swords in my collection is a migration-era style "ring hilt" sword with pattern-welded blade, by Vince Evans. It is an award-winning blade (not meaning to brag, but to pay homage where it should be paid -- to Vince!). A beautiful sword it is.

It's name is "Jerry".

No, I didn't name it. Neither did Vince. But it was named, and so the name sticks.

Imagine a Dark Age Saxon warlord drawing his sword before single combat: "I shall smite thee down with the fearsome blade of -- JERRY!!!!!!"

A Pythonesque scene perhaps, but maybe that's what was meant....?

David K. Wilson, Jr.
Laird of Glencoe

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Harry J. Fletcher




Location: Lost in Texas
Joined: 19 Aug 2009
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Reading list: 44 books

Posts: 260

PostPosted: Wed 07 Oct, 2009 7:56 pm    Post subject: David - JERRY So Be It         Reply with quote

I posted a humorous or I thought humorus missive about the name JERRY but I realized it wasn't all that humorous so I deleted it. If JERRY IT IS...THEN JERRY IT WILL BE ! Just don't smite me with JERRY. My first impression of my Windlass 13th century was it was so big and ugly. Somehow the name stuck. After some cutting with it I was impressed and attempted to rename it FORMIDABLE but BIG UGLY stuck because I kept forgetting FORMIDABLE.

I suppose I shall have to change the name of my Reeve from PARAGON to QUID QUO PRO since it cost me a pretty penny (for my budget anyway) while giving me a well made sword in return. I made a special stand for it which leans against the living room wall but perish the thought of calling it WALL LEANER! If I hang it on the wall I am certainly not going to call it WALL HANGER! Eek! Eek! Eek! Eek!

To Study The Edge of History
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