ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1197 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1197 ************************************ 30 Aug 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings, Here's the information we found on , which you'd like to use as a Scottish Gaelic woman's name from between 800 and 1200. You said you got your information from "Celtic Baby Names" by Judy Sierra. Baby name books are not reliable sources for information about medieval names, since they make no distinction between medieval names and more recent ones and are often based on poor research. Sierra's book is better than most, but it is still not that reliable. The good news is that your name is not very far off track. The early-period form of is , pronounced \SAR-itch\ [1]. We don't know for certain that was used by real women, because the name is only found in Irish legend. However, historical information on early Gaelic feminine names is relatively scarce, and legendary instances are the next best thing. is a modern Irish form of . Early Gaelic forms include , , and . The name became popular because of St. Margaret of Scotland, who died in 1093, and so it probably wasn't used until the end of your desired period [1]. As you suspected, it is almost unheard of in Gaelic for a person to derive a byname from her mother's name. We have only two examples of this, both cases involving royalty in unusual circumstances. It is much more likely that you would have been known as your father's daughter rather than your mother's. Here are a few common Scottish Gaelic men's names starting with : , , and [2]. The Gaelic word for daughter in your period is , so with each of these are your father's name, you would be called: * Sa/rait ingen Meicraith \SAR-itch IN-yen vick-RYTH\ (the \Y\ in the last syllable as in ) * Sa/rait ingen Murchada \SAR-itch IN-yen VUR-khah-dhah\ (The \U\ in \VUR\ is the one in . \dh\ is the sound of the in . \kh\ is the harsh sound in Scottish or German .) * Sa/rait ingen Ma/el Coluim \SAR-itch IN-yen VAYL KHOHL-im\ The \V\ pronunciation for the names beginning is not a mistake; in Gaelic, in some circumstances, the initial consonant of a word softens. In late-period and modern Gaelic, this softening is indicated with an after the letter. In your period it was not written, just pronounced. On its own, a name like is pronounced \MUR-khadh\; but after the is pronounced \V\. Any of these names would be appropriate for your period. Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl vz. Morgant Glasvryn, and Effrick neyn Kenneoch contributed to this letter. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. In service, Alan Fairfax & Arval Benicoeur Academy of S. Gabriel 30 Aug 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Gill, Malcolm, Macrae. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -