ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1130 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1130 ************************************ From: "S Friedemann" 29 Jul 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if Scottish people ever named their children after the Celtic goddess , before the year 1200. You also wanted to know if was a period surname, and wanted to know what region it was from. Here is the information we have found. was an Irish goddess who became a saint after the Irish converted to Christianity in the 5th century. We don't know if her name was given to children before the conversion, but after that, the Irish tended to avoid naming their children after the holiest saints. did not come into common use in Ireland until modern times. Names such as or , meaning "servant of [Saint] Bridget" were used instead [2]. (The slashes represent accents over the previous letters.) These are pronounced \MULL VREE-djeh\, with the \mull\ as in "pull" \GILL-a VREE-djeh\, with the \g\ as in "get" was used as both a masculine and feminine name, but was exclusively masculine. Both these names were used in Ireland; was used in Scotland, but we haven't found evidence for there. [3] and the older are English forms of . It is an Irish clan name meaning "[male] descendent of Su/ileabha/n." However, it is not Scottish, and would not be appropriate for a Scottish persona. The were originally found south of Tipperary, but were forced westwards by the Anglo-Norman invasion. [1] 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, Effric neyn Kennyeoch, Lindorm Eriksson, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and Teceangl Bach. For the Academy, --Arianui filia Catmaili July 29, 1998 --------------------------------------- References: [1] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3). s.n. (O) Sullivan [2] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [3] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.n. Gilbride