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Greetings,
Here is the information we found on the name "Brenna nic Fhaiolchiere."
Your persona would have spoken Gaelic, a language which, in the 12th century, was spoken in both Ireland and the north of Scotland. In modern times, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic are considered to be different languages; in period, they were the dialects of a single language. We have better records of Irish names than Scottish ones from your period, and so we have used some Irish references in our research.
We have found no example of the name "Brenna" being used by a person from the Middle Ages. "Brenna" does not fit the usual pattern of Irish women's names; the use of "-a" to indicate a female name comes from Latin and is not a feature of Irish names. "Irish Names," by O'Corrain & Maguire, lists the following feminine given names starting with "Br-": Breacnait, Brígh, Briúinseach, Broicseach, Brónach, Broinnfhionnn, and Bruinneach. (These names are given in the forms they would probably have had in early-period Irish, which would make them consistent with the last name you're trying to get). It is possible that the female names Brannait (from Branán) or Braonnait (from Braonán) could have been formed from male names which we have recorded. (In these examples, "á," ó," etc. represent accented a, accented o, and so on.)
As far as we can tell, there are several reasons why the name "nic Fhaiolchiere" would not be an appropriate name for your persona. There are three reasons for this.
The name "nic Fhaiolchiere" doesn't actually mean "of Clan Faolciar." "nic Faolciar" is an abbreviation of "inghean mhic Fhaolchiar," or "daughter of mac Faolciar." The only person who would use the name "mac Faolchéir" would be the clan chieftain--thus, "nic" indicates descent from the clan chieftain, not membership in the clan. To
indicate your clan, you would use "Faoilchiarach" (the Faolcharian).
You mentioned that your persona would have chosen a last name which showed kinship to her clan, rather than her father. Gaelic-speaking Scots didn't have surnames which were passed from parent to child. What we think of as a "last name" was a term that other people used to differentiate one person from another--just as people in a modern social group might refer to "small Dave" and "big Dave." These terms were matters of convenience; different groups would use different terms for the same person.
For example, among your clan it would not be useful for you to be called "Bruinneach Faoilchiarach," since everyone is part of the same clan. If you travelled to a different clan, "Bruinneach Faoilchairach" would be a reasonable name. If you travelled to another country altogether, you might be known as "Bruinneach the Scot." The term used depends on what's most useful to differentiate you from the people around you. You wouldn't have had a single, unchanging surname, and your feelings about your father probably wouldn't have affected the name you were known by.
Secondly, we do not think that "Faolciar," in any form, would have been used as a person's given name. This is something of a grey area. As the return letter pointed out, we don't have an example of either "Ciar" or "Faol" being used as the second element in a name. However, there are other words which are similar to "Faol" and "Ciar" which are documented as second elements. Thus, we can't be certain that they weren't used, but we have a significant sample of Irish names and didn't find a single example of either. We suggest that you use either "Faoldubh," which also means "dark wolf" and uses clearly documented elements, or (if you're interested in sound) "Fáelchar," which means "wolf-loving."
Even if we accept the possible existence of "Faolciar," "nic Faoilchéire" is not the proper form of the name "daughter of Faolciar." First, as we mentioned earlier, the Gaelic word for "daughter of" is "inghean" (pronounced "nee-en" in Scots.) Second, the original form assumes that the name would be thought of as as a two-word phrase "Faol ciar," but it appears that in your period, the name would be treated as one word--" Faolciar." The first form also treats "faol" as a feminine noun, when it's actually masculine. (In Gaelic, as in many other languages, nouns are assigned a gender which changes the form of the adjectives used with them.) Thus, we think that the proper form would be "Faoilchiar." Thus, "Bruinneach, daughter of Faolciar" would be "Bruinneach inghean Fhaiolchiar." ("F" becomes "fh" when it follows "nighean.") "Bruinneach nic Faolchiar" would mean "Bruinneach, daughter of mac Faoilchiar."
So, we would recommend that you use a documented Gaelic first name, such as "Bruinneach," "Brannait," or one of the other names we mentioned earlier. The best form of the patroynmic to use with this would be "nighean Fhaolchéir," meaning "daughter of Faolciar," unless you wanted to state that you were the daughter of the clan chieftain, in which case your patronymic would be "nic Faolchéir."
Effric neyn Kenyeoch, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Arval D'Espas Nord, Elsbeth Anne Roth, Jaelle of Armida, and Loveday all researched your name.
We hope we have been of assistance.
In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel