ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1007 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1007 ************************************ From: 11 Jun 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us whether is a registerable Irish name. Before answering that question, I'd like to clarify the service that the Academy offers. We try to help Societyfolk in choosing and using names that fit the historical cultures they are trying to re-create. Our research can sometimes be used to support submissions to the College of Arms, but that is not our goal and our results are often incompatible with the College's needs. If your main goal is to register a particular name, then we may not be able to help you. You asked whether this name would be registered. We actually don't try to figure out whether a name will pass, but whether it's appropriate for your specific period. The SCA has fairly lenient rules for passing names, so it's possible to pass many names which aren't historically accurate. If having this name is more important to you than having a historical name, then you should consult another group (such as the heralds in your kingdom or the SCA heralds mailing list at http://listserv.aol.com/archives/scahrlds.html). That said, here is what we found: is a name found only in Irish myth, and means "shadowy, ghostly, frightening" [1]; we found no examples of this name being used by a human in period. On the other hand, (pronounced \FAIL-khoo\) seems to be a reasonable early name, sometime before the tenth century [1,2]. The slashes '/' represent accents over the preceding letters. If you want to be the daughter of someone named , this would be constructed as , and pronounced \IN-yen AIL-khohn\; note that the 'fh' is silent. For alternatives to , try browsing the documents in the Academy Library at: http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/ Under the section on Ireland, you will find an article on "Early Irish Feminine Names" and information about good reference books. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael Caermyrdin, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and Arval Benicouer contributed to this letter. In service, --Walraven van Nijmegen Academy of S. Gabriel [1] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in & Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990) [2] George F. Black, _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_ (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986)