ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1000 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1000 ************************************ From: 25 Jun 1998 Greetings, Here's the information we have on "Lucien MacCrimmon," which you wanted to use as a name for a Scottish-French man from the 16th century. First, we confirmed that is a French name; we found it dated to 1292. (1) We didn't find later examples because we don't have any good sources for late-period French names--since is still in use, we are confident that it would be an appropriate French name for your period as well. The answer to the rest of your question is rather complicated for several reasons. In your period there were primarily two languages spoken in Scotland. The first is Scots, a language closely related to English which was spoken in the Lowlands (which included the major towns and the Scottish court). The second is Gaelic, which was spoken in the Highlands. Modern names that use were originally Gaelic, but have been spelled according to Scots spelling rules. The Gaelic form of is , which means "son of Ruimean." Gaelic-speakers in period Scotland did not use family names as we do today. A man named was called that because his father was named . Since no French man would be named , the son of a French immigrant would not end up with the name . We did find several Scots names meaning "man from France," including (2) * Frankman (1649) * Francess (1500) * Franche (1530) * Frans, Franss, Franche (1535) * Frensch (1538) * France (1558) * Fransche, Frensche (1580) * Fraunch (1584) Something like or would probably be reasonable for a French immigrant to 16th-century Scotland. However, it is likely that would get mangled when it was used in Scotland, and we have no way of predicting what would happen to it. Much as the names of immigrants to the United States were often changed in strange ways, the French could change in strange ways. Since we don't know exactly what might happen to it, your best bet is to use , even though some other form might hypothetically have existed. In France, family names were in common use and there is some evidence that immigrants from Scotland used their patronymics as surnames. We found a couple examples of names in French, although the examples we have date from the 17th century at the earliest. (3) Still, it demonstrates that some Gaelic speakers did keep Gaelic names, and it suggests that some form of is at least plausible. The same warning that applied to in Scotland applies to in France. might get changed in strange ways, but since we can't predict what they would be, you're better off using simply . So for the time being, we can say that is not a completely impossible name for the descendant of a Gaelic-speaking Scotsman who settled in France. For a Frenchman who settled in Lowland Scotland, a name like would be more likely. Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte, Zenobia Naphtali, Talan Gwynek, Margaret mac Duibhsidhe, Talan Gwynek, Barak Raz, and Lindorm Eriksson contributed to this letter. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. In service, Alan Fairfax Academy of S. Gabriel (1) Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris." (WWW: Accessed 6/5/98) http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html (2) Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), sn Frankman, Francis, French (3) Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), sn MacKay, Mac Mahon.