In my humble opinion scribes and heralds should work hand in hand for the projects that they might be undertaking.  Some of the sites that heralds use to see what the current (registered) or even (in work) a person’s name and device.  Anyone that is not familiar about accessing the Oscar, or the Search the Arms and Armorial can be confusing, if not frustration.  One of the scribes within the Providence has taken upon herself to messenge me about what name she is looking for, and me to find (within a google search, Oscar, OanA search) or even a seldom use and can often be out of date (eastroll.griffin-dor.org).  It is a great place to take a look at many of the arms within the East Kingdom; however I would use it as a tool to compare the blazon within the OandA search engines.  As this is not been updated lately for any arms that are newer to the mid 2k’s you will not see the arms, or the names, or correct names. And with many of these tools above you are sure to get the correct spelling for the gentle in question (very important) and see which arms they may have (also equally important.

Let me give you an example, and to demonstrate this I will pick a name and device from someone within the province that many may or may not know however you can see how this works:

Gentle in question is Fionn Mac Con Dhuibh where as a scribe is looking for his arms for a scroll.

First when you’re given a name doing not feel ashamed in asking if that is the correct spelling of the name, for if it is off then that can make difficulties.  The Search engines on the OandA are not really case sensitive, however spelling sensitive, so if Fionn is the gentle you are looking for doing a name search for Fionn maccon Dhuib will come up blank as one example.

What I normally do is when given a name, I take one part of the name and do a search on that.  So with Fionn lets start off with his first name (clicking on Name Pattern Search Form and in the field place “Fionn”, once you hit enter you will see Results and the standard disclaimer, and then the number of items matched, in this particular case you have 181 names with Fionn in it.  A lot right? Well let’s narrow that down with adding “Mac Con” byname as part of the search string and redo that, and 1, that is much better.  Now that we see his name in the search engine we can see that his name as given is spelled correctly (don’t want a scribe with an error in the spelling, nor have a court herald pronounce the name incorrectly)

With the name we see that he was registered in 2012 within the East. As well as his device blazon, “Azure, three orbs argent.” Note that down for that will make things easier.  (I normally do a highlight and copy does make things easier.)

From there and also an entry after 2005 open a new tab and do a google image search on the blazon (sounds silly however you will be surprised). The very first entry that you will see will be off my passed names and devices website, that will show not only his arms, the blazon as well (see double check) however if a more official place to see then let’s go to Oscar.  Once at the Oscar if you do a search of the blazon that will take you directly to the entry directly.  And here you can see that device the blazon and name.

Things to remember

1. verify off the arms and armorial to make sure what you are looking for is the current and not been updated
2. For older devices will take longer, never hesitate to ask.
3. Always double check with the scribe on whom you are looking for accurate communication
4. Practice first with locals in your local area and you’ll see how the process works.
5. Heralds are here for you please, Please, PLEASE ask us to help

 

Yours in most wonderful service

Conall an Doire