ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1037 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1037 ************************************ 22 Jun 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help choosing a 10th or 11th century Scottish masculine name with as your given name, with a byname that describes your as a Scottish-Norse half-breed. Here is what we have found. We assume that when you say "Scottish", you mean "Gaelic-speaking inhabitant of the area of modern Scotland." In your period, there were several other cultures in that area, speaking several different languages: Norse, English, and Norman-French. Since you've chosen a Gaelic given name, we'll only discuss Gaelic names in this letter. (The earls of Orkney in the saga you mentioned were Norse speakers in a Norse culture. They were not Scottish in any sense other than the geographical.) is the standard Gaelic spelling of the name that is anglicized . It was the name of Scottish kings as early as the 10th century [3], and appears in a 12th century Scottish Gaelic document in several forms [1]: Malcolm mac Culeo/n Malcoloum mac Cinatha/ Malcolum mac Moilbrigte Dubni mac Ma/lcolaim Malcoluim mac Moli/ni/ In your period, a Gaelic-speaking Scotsman would almost always have been known as his father's son. You can see that all the examples listed above follow this pattern: mac . We couldn't find any Gaelic name which means "the halfbreed". Words meaning were used in English and Norse names, but we did not find an exact equivalent in Gaelic. If your father were the Norseman, then you could call yourself . was a Gaelic given name, but it originally meant "Viking", so can means "son of the Viking" as well as "son of Lachlann" [1, 2]. would be a fine Gaelic name for your period. It would have been pronounced roughly \MULL-cohl-um mahk LAHKH-lahn\, where \MULL\ is pronounced to rhyme with and \kh\ is the harsh, rasping sound in Scottish or German . I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 16 Jun 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Malcolm, MacLachlann. [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [3] "Malcolm I" Britannica Online. [Accessed 18 June 1998]. http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=micro/370/2.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -