ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1001 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1001 ************************************ From: 16 Jul 1998 Greetings, Here's the information we found on the name "Kahile Macdowell," which you wanted to use as a name for the son of a Scottish crusader and a Christian woman from Antioch. We weren't able to find any evidence that could have been used in the Middle Ages. However, based on your persona story and the documentation you found, we can suggest a number of options. In particular, we didn't find any way to connect to your persona story. We'll come back to that later, but for the moment we're assuming that you want to keep your persona story, which means that you'll have to choose a different first name. Your wife told us that your persona was the son of a Scottish lord. In your period, "Scottish" could mean a lot of different things. Some residents of Scotland spoke Gaelic, the same language that was spoken in Ireland. Others spoke Scots, which is very closely related to English. There were people in the Orkneys who spoke Norn, which is related to Old Norse, and many nobles were Normans who spoke Norman French. They were all living in what we now call Scotland, but they spoke different languages and had different cultures. On top of that, a lot of what modern people think of as "Scottish" was actually invented quite recently. Clan names and clan tartans, for example, were not used until the revival of "Celtic" culture in the 18th century. Before that time, people didn't associate their names with the clan that they were in. In addition, "clans" are an aspect of Gaelic culture--in period a Scots-speaker would not have identified himself as being in a clan at all. In your period, Scots was spoken in towns and some other areas. It was the language of the courts, and so many Gaelic names were written by Scots- speakers who spelled them according to Scots spelling rules (which are very different from Gaelic spelling rules). is a late-period Scots rendering of the Gaelic name , which means "son of Dughaill" (and not "a member of the Clan mac Dhughaill"). We don't have many Scots records from your period, but we did find the following Scots renderings of : (1) * Mactheuel (1153-1165) * McDuhile (1296) * MacDowile (1306-1329) It is not totally inconceivable that a Gaelic-speaking Scot would have ended up in the Crusades, but we're confident that the large majority of Crusaders would have been "Scoto-Normans" who spoke Scots and Norman French, but not Gaelic. In your period, Gaelic-speaking Scots were still fairly isolated from the rest of European culture, and in any case were less likely to have the resources necessary to go on a Crusade. So the upshot of this is that or another period form of would be a remotely possible, but very unlikely, name for a Scottish man who could have gone on a Crusade. He would have been a Gael whose father was named (which is the only reason why he would have called himself ), but he would have been in the company of Scots and Norman-French speakers and they would have written his name as they heard it, . According to your persona story, your persona is the son of a Scottish lord (who, if you keep the name , would have been named ) and a Christian woman from Antioch. This is not implausible, but it would not have produced a person named "Kahile Macdowell." We're presenting several possibilities because we're not sure what happened to your persona. As you read them, keep in mind that last names were not fixed in your period: a person would may have been described by one of several different last names on different occasions, depending on context and how the speaker needed to identify him. Also, it's important to note that "mix-and-match" names are generally not historically accurate--that is, a person with a Gaelic- speaking father and an Arabic-speaking mother would not end up with one Gaelic name and one Arabic name. The actual situation is much more complicated. If your father took you home to Scotland, then your persona would have been raised as a Gaelic-speaking Scot. is not a Scottish name, although we did find the Gaelic name , (2) which is rather close. You could use the Gaelic name , which in Scots could be rendered . However, your persona in this case would be living in Scotland, not Antioch, and would basically be a Gaelic-speaking Scot. If your father stayed in Palestine with your mother, then you would probably not be called in any form. Surnames in your period were given to people by those around them, and weren't passed from generation to generation. Gaelic would have been almost unknown in the Crusader kingdoms, so it is highly unlikely that you would have been known by a Gaelic name. If you took this route, you would need a completely new name, most likely in French (which was the most common language of the crusaders). If your father left your mother and you in Palestine, you would probably be known by a Syriac Christian name, most likely a Syriac form of a saint's name. We have very little information on Syriac Christian names, but if you're interested in this we can pursue this possibility. So those are the possibilities, based on your persona story. Your wife mentioned that she found as the name of an Arab who captured a French lord. We suspect that is a form of the Arabic name . (3) European records often mangle Arabic names, so it might be something else. However, , in any form, wouldn't have been used by anyone who was raised by a crusader. If your persona story is that your father abandoned you and your mother raised you in an Arab culture, you could use the name as part of a full Arabic name. If you're interested in this, please check out our Web page on Arab names at http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/daud/arabic-naming/ So you have a lot of options, although none of them will get you exactly. If you let us know what you'd like to do from here, we can give you further advice about finding a name from a particular culture. Arval Benicoeur, Juliana de Luna, Lindorm Eriksson, Margaret MacDuibhsidhe, Barak Raz, Fergus MacAvaty, Rouland Carre, Aryanhwy Prytydes verch Catmael Caermyrdin, and Talan Gwynek contributed to this letter. In service, Alan Fairfax Academy of S. Gabriel (1) Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986). (2) O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). (3) Da'ud ibn Auda, "Arabic Naming Practices and Names List," _Compleat Anachronist_ #51, "The Islamic World" (Milpitas: SCA, Inc, Autumn 1990).