ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1050 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1050 ************************************ From: "S Friedemann" 23 Jul 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wrote to ask for helping creating a 14th century Welsh name for , daughter of , who lives in Ireland with her Irish husband called <{something} Mac Cullin>. is an English phonetic spelling of , the Irish form of . (The slash represents an accent over the previous letter). We haven't found evidence that was used during the Society's period, so we recommend that you avoid it. In period Ireland, was extremely rare, because the name was considered too holy to be used by people. The usual way to honor the Virgin was to name a child . [1] It is possible that a woman named who moved to Ireland might have been called , but we do not have evidence that this happened, and we cannot recommend it as authentic re-creation. Some forms of used in Wales are 13th century, , 1350-1415, 14th century, and 16th century. [2,3] We did not find with two 's in your period; the spellings that we found are 1325 and , 1326. [2] Either of these would be appropriate choices for your period. In both Wales and Ireland in your period, both men and women were primarily identified with patronymics (surnames that named them as their fathers' children). They didn't use hereditary surnames in the modern sense. For example, you would have been called , "Mari daughter of Gwyn." When you married, you'd still be Gwyn's daughter, so you'd still be called the same thing. We have no records of Welsh women adopting elements of their husbands' names as early as the 14th century. The only examples of Welsh women being recorded with their husband's surname as a "married" surname is in the 16th century; by this time, surnames had become fixed and hereditary. We also have no examples of any Welsh women's names recorded in Ireland in the 14th century, nor of Welsh and Irish elements used together in the same name. If you moved to Ireland, then our best guess is that you would either have continued to identify yourself as you always had, , or that you would have adopted an Irish translation of your name. A name might have been translated by replacing each element with some similar or equivalent Irish name. might perhaps have become , but since was not normally used as a personal name in Gaelic, it might more likely have become . (pronounced just like the word ) was a very common Irish name in your period; it is not related to or [1]. is an English form of the Gaelic "son of [a man whose nickname was] Cuileann" [6,7]. In period, Gaelic names like this one were used literally: tf your husband is called , then it could only be because his father was called . Obviously, you couldn't have been called . You also wouldn't have been called ; that name means "daughter of [a man called] O/ Cuilinn", and that's not right either. (In fact, is a post-period usage, not found until the 17th century. There is a period equivalent, but we're getting too far off on a tangent here.) Since marriage doesn't change your father, you would not have been known by any form of your husband's patronymic. In fact, it was very rare for a woman to be named as her husband's wife in Irish or Welsh society in the 14th century. We have found no example in Gaelic, and only one example in Wales: "Symmonis wife of Nicholai" from 13th century Abergavenny [5]. is a spelling of , a medieval Welsh word for "wife." Since this example is unique in our research, we do not recommend that you use it as the basis for your own name. You might well have been described in person or it writing as your husband's wife, but as far as we can tell, that description would not have been considered part of your name in 14th century Welsh or Irish culture. In conclusion, a Welsh daughter of , wife of an Irish would probably have been called , and known commonly as her husband's wife. We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval Benicoeur, Barak Raz, Talan Gwynek, and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn. For the Academy, --Aryanhwy merch Catmael Caermyrdin July 23, 1998 ----------------------------------------------------------- References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [2] Morgan, T.J. and Prys Morgan, _Welsh Surnames_ (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1985). p.35 [3] Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasfryn, "Names and Naming Practices in the Merioneth Lay Subsidy Roll 1292-3", in Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings, 1991 (SCA: Laurel, Maryland, 1991). [4] Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, "A Welsh Miscellany", _Compleat Anachronist_ #66 (Milpitas, CA: SCA, Inc.). [5] "The Lordships of Aberavenny, Grosmont, Skenfrith and White Castle" in "South Wales and Monmouth Record Society, Publication No. 2" 1950 [6] Woulfe, Patrick, _Irish Names for Children_ (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1974). [7] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3).