Persona in the SCA
In the SCA we take a medieval name. That is a name that a medieval woman would have named her child. We do not take an actual historical person's name.

In the same way, we develop a "life history" or "background" for ourselves that is not a copy of an actual historical person's life, but a fictional life that "could have been true."

Some gentles are very concerned with having a plausible persona story, some have very wild stories that could have been true but are highly unlikely, and some people have very little persona history worked out at all. All of these individuals can have a good time within the group, and can successfully play "our game". (Baroness Gunhilda has a long improbable series of children born at odd moments in a long series of travels. However, these SCA "kinships" are a great deal of fun and are taken fairly seriously.)

Normally, one starts by picking a country or area where you are "from", and a time period. Our game is Europe from roughly 1000-1600 AD. You will find people who play a persona from the far east or the middle east. These individuals are very welcome and make our game more interesting, but they are playing personae who are visitors. Their story is that they have come to the west for a reason. (Lord Chandra is from India but has come west trading.)

Other things to take into account are:
What kind of clothing does that country and time period wear? And are you going to want to wear them? (Honorable Lady Rhiannon Redwolf is 12th century British Isles, and wears a butterfly sleeved Bliaut that is form fitting but has no corseting. Lady Helene on the other hand is a later period persona, and wears skirts with boned corsets.)

What activities are you interested in, and will that persona be convenient for pursuing those? (Lady Liadnan enjoys cooking and playing the fiddle, which doesn't limit what time period or country she's from at all. However, Lord Puck does light weapons fighting, which makes a later period persona more logical.)

What attitudes are prevalent and what events are taking place in that time period? (Lord Walter Robyn plays a later period English persona, so his persona is interested in Sailing ships and Letters of Mark, court intrigues, etc. Earlier period personae, such as Lord Alarich are more interested in Feudal allegiance to one's Lords, the defense of land and castles.)

Am I going to want to connect my persona history to other people? (Honorable Lady Estril and Honorable Lord Haldane dress in clothes from the same time period. On the other hand, Lord Owen a Welshman, Lady Gilyan of Ireland, and Lord Alarich of Germany are all children of Baroness Gunhilda a Norsewoman. And within the SCA, that works.)

Playing Persona
So what does it mean when you hear someone say, "That Lord so and so "plays persona", or "plays high-persona"?

It means that Lord So and So talks using plain language that is not littered with "OKs, Wows, Cools, etc." He talks in a way that doesn't disturb the illusion of our medieval world. He probably also dresses in a way that helps our medieval illusion -- no T-shirts with writing on them showing underneath the fighting tabbard, no can of Pepsi in his hand (his Pepsi is in a period looking mug instead.) And when you talk to him, he won't try to change the subject to computers, vampire games, or mowing the lawn. He'll talk to you about medieval/SCA topics.

This sounds hard, but the longer you are in the SCA, the more your conversations become more medieval quite naturally. Lord Oxlade can carry on for hours on brewing and who he has managed to get interested in beer and mead brewing. Turning the conversation, he'll talk about fighting, wars, and tournaments.

How much of this do I have to do?
You have to pick a medieval name, and you have to wear medieval clothes. The longer you play the more consistent you will probably become, because it makes our game more fun. (Just ask Lord Ragnar who merchants out of his red Viking tent.)

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