Well, regarding the "name", what I read in the inscription is:
"Nobre de 1897"
which makes me think the "Nobre" bit is not a name but a contraction of "
Noviembre". If I'm right, the inscription would then be translated as "November of 1897".
Not a flourished
nakago mei in a
nihonto's tang (then it would read something like "a lucky autumn's day in the secon year of the Regency of Maria Cristina"), but a date, nonetheless
Nice old Canary knife, Graeme. The Albacete one is also a beaut