ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1218 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1218 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* From: "S Friedemann" 9 Sep 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for help creating an authentic 13th century Scottish Gaelic feminine name, with or as your given name, and or as your father's given name. Here is the information we have found. is a modern form of the name . The period Scottish Gaelic form of is , pronounced \EHL-@-s@tch\. The <@> represents the initial vowel sound in . would be a fine choice for a 13th century name. began as a fanciful spelling of , and was first made popular by the actress , who was born in 1922. [5] As it is neither Gaelic nor period, we recommend you choose a different name. Since neither of the names that you asked about fits the period that interests you, you may want to consider some alternatives. We have a short list available on the web: "Some Scottish Gaelic Feminine Names" http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/scotgaelfem/ Very few records in period Scotland were written in Gaelic, and all period records tend to contain fewer women's names than men's. As a result, we know only a few women's names that were used in period Scottish Gaelic. If you'd like some other possibilities, also Gaelic but only recorded in Ireland, please contact us again and give us an idea of what sort of name you'd like (e.g. what initial letter). is an anglicized form of the Gaelic masculine name (the slash represents an accent over the previous letter). [4] is pronounced \KYAR-ahn\. The only time we see it in Scotland was as the name of a saint who died in 549, but because of the number of places named after him, we think it reasonable that an early period Scottish Gael might have been named after him, too. [6] However, the 13th century is not early enough for this; we doubt that the name was still in use at this time in Scotland. is an anglicized form of the Irish masculine name , which was used only rarely in Scotland, and only late in period. [1,4] We suggest that you consider a different name, one that we know was used in the 13th century in Scotland; perhaps one of the following: Name Pronunciation Cona/n \KOHN-ahn\ Conaing \KOHN-eng\ Connall \KOHN-ahl\ Congal \KOHN-ghahl\ [1,2] (The \gh\ represents a voiced version of the hard, rasping \ch\ sound in the Scottish "loch" or the German "Bach.") Any of the above names is a fine choice. The most common way to form a Scottish Gaelic name was to have your given name, the word meaning "daughter" (or "son," if the case may be), and then your father's name in the possessive form. A girl named [3] whose father's name was would be known as "Forbhlaith, daughter of Colma/n." This is pronounced \FORV-leth IN-yen KHOL-mahn\. The \kh\ represents the hard, rasping sound found in Scottish "loch" or German "bach." 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 Benicouer and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, --Arianwy ferch Cadfael September 9, 1998 --------------------------------------- References: [1] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986). [2] O'Brien, M. A., ed., _Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae_ (Dublin: The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1976). [3] Arval Benicoeur, "Some Scottish Gaelic Feminine Names" (WWW: privately published, 1998) http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/arval/scotgaelfem/ [4] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). [5] Hanks, Patrick, and Flavia Hodges, _A Dictionary of First Names_ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, 1990). [6] Watson, William J., _The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland_ (London: William Blackwood & Sons Ltd., 1926). (92, 278) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 26 Mar 2002, Arval: Removed , a modern spelling we've not yet found in period sources. See Scottish Gaelic Given Names, http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/gaelicgiven.