MARKETA PRAHY·FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2018
Text from the Pelican Sovereign: “Gwyn is a personal name and Welsh grammar does not require it to mutate to Wynn or Wynt after Caer. This solves both the presumption on Winchester problem AND returns the name to something closer to what the submitting group wanted. I cannot change the name back to Caer Gwynt because of Welsh grammar.”
Here is the decision on if Caer Wynt would be registrable:
“Submitted as Caer_Gwynt, this construction is not grammatically correct in Welsh. Following the word Caer, the word Gwynt must mutate to Wynt. In fact, Caerwynt and/or Kaerwynt is an attested period place name — it is the Welsh name for the city of Winchester. If this branch name is registerable, it will be in the period spelling Caerwynt.
Because this branch name uses the name of an actual place, we must consider presumption and whether the city of Winchester, England is important enough to protect. Winchester was the capital of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Wessex under Alfred the Great. That fact alone does not require its protection. The December 2016 Cover Letter states:
[T]he only capital cities that will be automatically protected from presumption are the capitals of modern independent sovereign entities and historically significant states. All other cities will be assessed on a case-by-case basis for significance. Thus, the capital of a U.S. state (such as New Jersey) or a Canadian province (such as Alberta) will not automatically be protected. Likewise, Dinefwr, the capital city of the kingdom of Deheubarth (a kingdom within Wales that ceased to be independent by that late 12th century), is not automatically important enough to protect. While the fact that a city such as Trenton or Edmonton is a capital should be taken into account when considering the significance of the place, a city that has little historical significance apart from being the capital of a political subdivision will not be protected from presumption.”
They did indeed decide that Caer Wynt would be protected, as the period Welsh name for the capital city of Winchester. So the Sovereign is asking if you would accept Caer Gwyn instead.”